The impact of Trade Openness and Doing Business Environment on Foreign Direct Investment: A panel Data of World Countries from 2004 to 2012

Recent study examines the impact of trade openness and the doing business environment at foreign direct investment among 23 countries in Southwest Asia in the period 2004 to 2012. The research approach is econometric and the generalized regression of panel data was used to test the effect of the variables of interest. The results show that trade openness directly (coefficient of 0. 002، p-value = 0. 031) determines foreign direct investment. Among the doing business indices، the cost of construction permits (-0. 012)، enforcement of contracts (-0. 002)، received electricity (coefficient of 0. 002)، the cost of starting a new business (-0. 051)، the time required to export (-0. 154)، the time required to import (-0. 112) and the costs of preparing and paying taxes (0. 008) showed sufficient statistical significance. The time required to import and export have the highest share for anticipation the foreign direct investment. These results proposes that developing an appropriate model in which a convergence found between policy institutions is an requiring issue to promote trade liberalization and improving the business environment.