The Political Games of Foreign Direct Investment: Investigating the Influence of Regime Type on Host Country FDI Inflows During the Olympics

Name: Clare Leithauser
Major: Political Science
Minor: Economics
Advisors: Erik Davis; Jeffrey Lantis (second reader)

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is one of the most important factors in helping countries develop. As a result, being able to obtain FDI is necessary in order to for states to thrive in the global arena. A debate exists on the best qualities and factors required for states to obtain foreign direct investment, such as their regime type and respect for human rights and media scrutiny. In addition, when states are hosting mega sporting events, such as the Olympics, there is another level of focus placed upon the country through the media presence the event brings. This research aims to understand, in the context of the Olympics, which regime type and qualities of government help host countries gain the most foreign direct investment. Specifically, I ask how regime type, human rights, and media attention impacts the amount of foreign direct investment states receive when they are the host of the Olympics. I hypothesize that the more democratic a country is and the greater its protection of human rights, then it will gain more foreign direct investment when they are the host of the Olympics. To study this case studies of the 2000 Sydney and the 2008 Beijing Olympics are analyzed. In addition, several regression models using ordinary least squares are used, employing a data set consisting of nineteen Olympic hosts from 1980-2018. The results show that media attention, human rights, and government type do not have a statistically significant impact on foreign direct investment, however, trends were present that indicated results matching my hypothesis.

Posted in Comments Enabled, Independent Study, Symposium 2023 on April 13, 2023.

2 responses to “The Political Games of Foreign Direct Investment: Investigating the Influence of Regime Type on Host Country FDI Inflows During the Olympics”

1. Ann Agurkis says:

   April 21, 2023 at 9:15 am

   Interesting! I wonder how the most recent World Cup would compare in your study since it brought to light some human right issues

2. Prof. Claire Eager says:

   April 21, 2023 at 5:22 pm

   Congratulations, Clare! I wonder if these hypothesized influences on FDI have changed over time. Did your results provide any indications of this?