Citation:

Al-Sadi Hamed, Fathi Saed Bouayn, Zouheir Abida. "Foreign Direct Investment, Economic Freedom, and Economic Growth in GCC Countries" International Research Journal of Economics and Management Studies, Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 215-224, 2025.

Abstract:

From 2008 to 2022, this paper examines the causal relationships among economic freedom, economic growth, and foreign direct investment on a panel of three Gulf Cooperation Council nations: Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. We discovered compelling evidence of a positive relationship between FDI and economic growth through a panel data analysis using the System Generalized Method of Moments. We also discovered that the effect of FDI is stronger when the economic freedom variable is present, suggesting that economic freedom functions as a supplement to FDI. Therefore, this study offers important information to policymakers in the GCC countries on how to draw Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows.

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Keywords:

Foreign Direct Investment, Economic Freedom, Economic Growth, Dynamic Panel, Data Analysis.