The research aims to contribute to identifying the contemporary driving forces having an impact on FDI patterns. The study attempts to introduce a new way to think about the FDI drivers to overcome research limitations concentrated on economic factors. Among a range of factors that can affect FDI, the paper explores a capitalist system, humans' attitudes, and digitalization (CHD). There is evidence of complex and nonlinear interrelation between them, resulting in some synergy - the CHD triad. The FDI patterns are no longer designed solely by multinational firms but in interaction with governments, populations, and technological pressure. While the research started far before the global crisis caused by coronavirus infection, the pandemic intensified a chain of systemic, human, and technological reactions and confirmed our hypothesis. High bio-political uncertainty, human risk aversion with growing awareness, and expanding digital capitalism maintain profound social, economic, and technological changes, resulting in new FDI patterns. Read more
Keywords:
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), CHD triad, variety of capitalism, institutions, risk aversion, digital economy, coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19)
JEL:
F21, F23, L22