The Impact of Foreign Investment on the Economic Development of Selected Countries in the CEE Region

The thesis examines the impact of incoming foreign direct investment on the economy of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland between 1993 and 2007 through the prism of three macroeconomic indicators: the gross domestic product, the rate of unemployment and exports. The thesis is structured into four chapters. In the first chapter, the term FDI is defined and categorized. The second chapter describes thoroughly direct and indirect impacts of FDI on the GDP, the rate of unemployment and exports of the host economy. The third chapter offers an analysis of FDI flowing into the Central Eastern European region and the four countries in question after 1989. A special emphasis is put on economic policy towards FDI, the sectors and regions which attracted it the most. The fourth chapter examines the impact of FDI on the above-mentioned three macroeconomic indicators in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland using a simple linear regression. The chapter closes with a few thoughts on the impacts of FDI in the long-run, especially taking into account the sectors foreign investors preferred the most in CEE