This dissertation contributes to the discussion of the theoretical relationship between FDI and income inequality by arguing that the relationship depends on the political system. Focusing on the region of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), this dissertation uses a fixed-effects model and a panel data set and finds that the positive correlation between FDI and income inequality measured in Gini Coefficient is magnified in countries with a high level of democracy of LAC during 1991-2017. Furthermore, in the following quintile income share analysis, it is found that the effects for the 5th quintile are opposite to the 3rd and the 4th quintiles, suggesting that the wealthiest 20% of the population in these countries benefited from FDI and the political system magnified this effect.
","abstract_html":"<p>This dissertation contributes to the discussion of the theoretical relationship between FDI and income inequality by arguing that the relationship depends on the political system. Focusing on the region of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), this dissertation uses a fixed-effects model and a panel data set and finds that the positive correlation between FDI and income inequality measured in Gini Coefficient is magnified in countries with a high level of democracy of LAC during 1991-2017. Furthermore, in the following quintile income share analysis, it is found that the effects for the 5th quintile are opposite to the 3rd and the 4th quintiles, suggesting that the wealthiest 20% of the population in these countries benefited from FDI and the political system magnified this effect.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Zhang, Fengyuan"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Political Science and Economics, PhD interfield","degree_level":"Restricted to Claremont Colleges Dissertation","degree_discipline":"School of Social Science, Politics, and Evaluation","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Graham Bird","Thomas Willett"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2022,"date_issued":"2022-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2022-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:39:59Z","subjects":["Economics"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/417","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Graham Bird","Thomas Willett"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Zhang, Fengyuan"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2022-07-12T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["School of Social Science, Politics, and Evaluation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Restricted to Claremont Colleges Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Political Science and Economics, PhD interfield"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Economics"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/417"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This dissertation contributes to the discussion of the theoretical relationship between FDI and income inequality by arguing that the relationship depends on the political system. Focusing on the region of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), this dissertation uses a fixed-effects model and a panel data set and finds that the positive correlation between FDI and income inequality measured in Gini Coefficient is magnified in countries with a high level of democracy of LAC during 1991-2017. Furthermore, in the following quintile income share analysis, it is found that the effects for the 5th quintile are opposite to the 3rd and the 4th quintiles, suggesting that the wealthiest 20% of the population in these countries benefited from FDI and the political system magnified this effect.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Foreign direct investment, democracy, and income inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean from 1991 to 2017"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Graham Bird","Thomas Willett"],"dc:creator":["Zhang, Fengyuan"],"dc:date.available":["2022-07-12T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This dissertation contributes to the discussion of the theoretical relationship between FDI and income inequality by arguing that the relationship depends on the political system. Focusing on the region of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), this dissertation uses a fixed-effects model and a panel data set and finds that the positive correlation between FDI and income inequality measured in Gini Coefficient is magnified in countries with a high level of democracy of LAC during 1991-2017. Furthermore, in the following quintile income share analysis, it is found that the effects for the 5th quintile are opposite to the 3rd and the 4th quintiles, suggesting that the wealthiest 20% of the population in these countries benefited from FDI and the political system magnified this effect.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/417"],"dc:subject":["Economics"],"dc:title":["Foreign direct investment, democracy, and income inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean from 1991 to 2017"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["School of Social Science, Politics, and Evaluation"],"thesis:degree_level":["Restricted to Claremont Colleges Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Political Science and Economics, PhD interfield"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:39:59Z"}