DOES FDI ACTUALLY AFFECT INCOME INEQUALITY? INSIGHTS FROM 25 YEARS OF RESEARCH
对1995年至2019年间543项实证研究进行元分析，发现外商直接投资对收入不平等的影响取决于研究国家的发展水平：在低收入国家加剧不平等，在高收入国家缓解不平等。
Abstract While there are 25 years of empirical research on how FDI may affect income inequality, there is surprisingly no consensus on this issue. In this paper, we conduct a meta‐analysis on the effect of FDI on inequality using 543 empirical studies from 1995 to 2019. Among various factors, we find that the development level of the study country has the strongest influence on the direction in which FDI affects income inequality. When the primary studies are sorted into three groups based on the GDP per capita of their sample areas, the within‐group estimates on the effect of FDI on income inequality become strongly consistent with each other. Particularly, we find that FDI is associated with higher inequality for the low‐income group, has no statistically significant effect for the middle‐income group, and is associated with lower inequality for the high‐income group. This observation suggests that FDI may increase income inequality as a country initially develops, but reduce inequality as development deepens.