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Reproducibility package for Are Robots Shifting Foreign Direct Investments?

2026
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Reference ID
RR_WLD_2026_602
DOI
https://doi.org/10.60572/hp5v-kt06
Author(s)
Francesca de Nicola, Shawn W. Tan, Aaron Tang
Metadata
JSON
Created on
Apr 06, 2026
Last modified
Apr 09, 2026
Page views
18
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  • Overview
  • Reproducibility Package
  • Description
  • Scope and coverage
  • Disclaimer
  • Access and rights
  • Contacts
  • Information on metadata
  • Citation

    • Overview

    Abstract

    Industrial robots are rapidly changing global production processes, with large implications for foreign direct investments (FDI) patterns. The impact is ambiguous, a priori. On the one hand, robotization may boost FDI since firms that invested in robots increase their demand for complementary inputs. On the other hand, robotization may dampen FDI since firms have weaker incentives to outsource selected inputs and/or tasks. This paper finds that robotization at home boosts FDI, based on bilateral FDI data from 2003-2021 across 65 countries. To uncover the underlying mechanism the effect on FDI is decomposed into three components: capital per job (or capital intensity), jobs created per project (or labor intensity) and number of FDI projects. The positive effect of robotization in the source country on FDI is driven by increases in project numbers and capital intensity, but not labor intensity. Decomposing FDI by business function reveals that this effect operates primarily through efficiency-seeking manufacturing investments rather than market-seeking activities, indicating that automation enhances firms' ability to establish complementary production networks abroad.

    Reproducibility Package

    Scripts
    Get Reproducibility Package
    File name
    RR_WLD_2026_602
    Zip package
    RR_WLD_2026_602.zip
    Title
    Reproducibility package for Are Robots Shifting Foreign Direct Investments?
    Date
    2026-04
    Dependencies
    Stata dependencies are listed in the ado folder.
    Instructions
    See README in reproducibility package.
    Notes
    Computational reproducibility verified by Development Impact (DECDI) Analytics team, World Bank.
    Source code repository
    Repository name URI
    Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank) https://reproducibility.worldbank.org
    Software
    Name
    Stata
    Version
    19.0 MP

    Reproducibility

    Technology environment

    Paper exhibits were reproduced on a computer with the following specifications:
    • OS: Windows 11 Enterprise
    • Processor: Intel(R) Xeon(R) Gold 6226R CPU @ 2.90GHz, 2900 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
    • Memory available: 16 GB
    Technology requirements

    Run Time: 17 minutes
    Reproduction instructions

    To reproduce the findings in this paper, a replicator must:

    1. Secure Access to Data: Access the datasets not included in the package. See subsection Datasets for more details.
    2. Download and Place Data: Once the data is accessed, users should place it in the appropriate folder.
    3. Run the Package: After placing the data in the folder:
               - Update the working directory in line 13 of the do-file "master", and run it.

    Since all the data is not included, the package includes the results produced by replicators. These files can be used to review the results presented in the paper.

    Data

    Datasets
    Name
    Foreign Direct Investment Markets Transactional Data
    Note
    Data accessed in November 2024. The data is provided by the Financial Times and gives real-time transaction level information on greenfield Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects and expansions with data on over 190 countries since 2001. The years included are 2003-2024. For each transaction, the dataset provides information on the: (i) name of the investing company, (ii) nationality of the investing company, (iii) destination country, (iv) value of investment, (v) sector of activity of the project (vi) business function of the activity carried out at the facility and (vii) number of jobs created from the investment.File location: Replication Package/Data/Raw/FDIM DATA.xlsx
    Access policy
    Data access was granted directly to the study authors by the data owners/managers. It was obtained with a custom data license that does not allow for redistribution and it is not included in the reproducibility package.
    License URL
    https://terms.ftspecialist.com/
    Data URL
    https://terms.ftspecialist.com/
    Citation
    The Financial Times Limited 2026. "fDi Markets" [dataset]. Accessed November 2024.
    Name
    International Federation of Robotics Database
    Note
    Data accessed in November 2024. Data includes robot data by country-industry and concordance between IFR sectors and NAICS. File location: Replication Package/Data/Raw. Files: robotindustry_raw.csv; naics_mapping.xlsx
    Access policy
    Data access was granted directly to the study authors by the data owners/managers. It was obtained with a custom data license that does not allow for redistribution and it is not included in the reproducibility package.
    License URL
    https://vdma-verlag.com/download_10BDB.html
    Data URL
    https://ifr.org/worldrobotics/
    Citation
    International Federation of Robotics.2024. "World Robotics Industrial Robots" [dataset]. https://ifr.org/worldrobotics/
    Name
    The CEPII Gravity database
    Note
    Data accessed in November 2024. Country ISO Codes and Gravity Variables. File location: Replication Package/Data/Raw. Files: Gravity_V202211.dta; Countries_V202211.dta
    Access policy
    Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
    License
    OPEN LICENCE 2.0
    License URL
    https://www.etalab.gouv.fr/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/open-licence.pdf
    Data URL
    https://www.cepii.fr/CEPII/en/bdd_modele/bdd_modele_item.asp?id=8
    Citation
    Conte, M., P. Cotterlaz and T. Mayer (2022), "The CEPII Gravity database". CEPII Working Paper N°2022-05, July 2022
    Name
    Classifications on economic statistics
    Note
    Data accessed in November 2024. Data includes concordance between NAICS and ISIC codes. File location: Replication Package/Data/Raw/naics_isic.csv
    Access policy
    Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
    License URL
    https://www.un.org/en/about-us/terms-of-use
    Data URL
    https://unstats.un.org/unsd/classifications/Econ
    Citation
    United Nations. Revision 4. "Classifications on economic statistics" [dataset]. Accessed November 2024. https://unstats.un.org/unsd/classifications/Econ.
    Name
    World Development Indicators
    Note
    Data accessed in February 2025. Indicator accessed: Population ages 15-64, total. World Development Indicators. File location: Replication Package/Data/Raw/P_Data_Extract_From_World_Development_Indicators.csv
    Access policy
    Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
    License
    Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0)
    License URL
    https://www.worldbank.org/en/about/legal/terms-of-use-for-datasets
    Data URL
    https://databank.worldbank.org/source/2?series=NY.GDP.PCAP.CD&country=
    Citation
    World Bank. 2025. "World Development Indicators" [dataset]. Indicator accessed: Population ages 15-64, total. Accessed in September 2025. https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators
    Name
    IFR and ISIC Revision 4 classifications
    Note
    Data accessed in November 2024. Data accessed from Table 1 of the paper: "Tracking the Rise of Robots: The IFR Database". File location: Replication Package/Data/Raw/ifr_isic.xlsx
    Access policy
    Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
    License URL
    https://www.degruyterbrill.com/publishing/terms-conditions
    Data URL
    https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/jbnst-2021-0059/html?lang=en&srsltid=AfmBOoqbc67rFBxsQKVSjP_NBYsYWu6nM2Bwansg4C2jAm88kuAaKmUx
    Citation
    Jurkat, Anne, Klump, Rainer and Schneider, Florian. "Tracking the Rise of Robots: The IFR Database" Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik, vol. 242, no. 5-6, 2022, pp. 669-689. https://doi.org/10.1515/jbnst-2021-0059
    Data statement

    Some data is restricted and has not been included in the reproducibility package. For more details, please refer to the README file.

    Description

    Output
    Type
    Working Paper
    Title
    Are Robots Shifting Foreign Direct Investments?
    Description
    Policy Research Working Papers (PRWP)
    Authors
    Author Affiliation Email
    Francesca de Nicola World Bank fdenicola@worldbank.org
    Shawn W. Tan IFC swtan@ifc.org
    Aaron Tang UCL aaron.tang.20@ucl.ac.uk
    Date of production

    2026-04-03

    Scope and coverage

    Geographic locations
    Location Code
    World WLD
    Keywords
    Foreign Direct Investments Industrial Robots Technology
    Topics
    ID Topic Parent topic ID Vocabulary Vocabulary URI
    F21 International Investment • Long-Term Capital Movements F2 Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)
    O3 Innovation • Research and Development • Technological Change • Intellectual Property Rights O Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)

    Disclaimer

    Disclaimer

    The materials in the reproducibility packages are distributed as they were prepared by the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this event do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, the Executive Directors of the World Bank, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the materials included in the reproducibility package.

    Access and rights

    License
    Name URI
    Modified BSD3 https://opensource.org/license/bsd-3-clause/

    Contacts

    Contacts
    Name Affiliation Email
    Francesca de Nicola World Bank fdenicola@worldbank.org
    Reproducibility WBG World Bank reproducibility@worldbank.org

    Information on metadata

    Producers
    Name Abbreviation Affiliation Role
    Reproducibility WBG DECDI World Bank - Development Impact Department Verification and preparation of metadata
    Date of Production

    2026-04-03
    Document version

    1

    Citation

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