Outward FDI in China and Latin America: A Comparative Study

In the past decade, the growth rates of outward foreign direct investment from China and Latin America were remarkable. China and Latin American countries have emerged to be the main investors among developing countries or even in the world. They have different development bases and modes although they are developing countries. The article conducts a comparison of major characteristics of China and Latin America's outward foreign direct investment covering investment trends, industrial distribution, geographical distribution and types of their enterprises. Then it explains how these characteristics came into being and analyzes the outward FDI development process of both sides. It is pointed out that China's outward FDI is from large-sized state owned enterprises and concentrated on energy, mining and manufacturing industries. In Latin America, outward FDI is mainly from large-sized privately run enterprises and concentrated on resource and resource related manufacturing industries.

This piece appeared as Taotao Chen, Chen Chen, and Lourdes S. Casanova, "Outward FDI in China and Latin America: A Comparative Study," Journal of Latin American Studies, Vol. 38, no.4 (2016), pp. 94-110. Further information is available here: http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTotal-LDMZ201604006.htm.