The impact of exchange rate volatility on US direct investment

In this paper we examine the impact of the level of the exchange rate, volatility in the exchange rate and exchange rate expectations on outward US foreign direct investment in 12 developed countries and inward foreign direct investment to the USA from those countries for the period from 1983 to 1995. In our empirical analysis we find no evidence for an effect of exchange rate variation on either US outward investment or inward investment in the USA. This result is robust to a number of different estimation procedures. As regards the level of the exchange rate we find a positive relationship between US outward investment and appreciation in the host country currency while there is a negative relationship between US inward investment and appreciation in the dollar.