{"type":"script","doc_desc":{"producers":[{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","abbr":"DECDI","affiliation":"World Bank - Development Impact Department","role":"Verification and preparation of metadata"}],"prod_date":"2026-04-03","version":"1"},"project_desc":{"authoring_entity":[{"name":"Francesca de Nicola","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"fdenicola@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Shawn W. Tan","affiliation":"IFC","email":"swtan@ifc.org"},{"name":"Aaron Tang","affiliation":"UCL","email":"aaron.tang.20@ucl.ac.uk"}],"title_statement":{"title":"Reproducibility package for Are Robots Shifting Foreign Direct Investments?","idno":"RR_WLD_2026_602"},"data_statement":"Some data is restricted and has not been included in the reproducibility package. For more details, please refer to the README file. ","software":[{"name":"Stata","version":"19.0 MP"}],"scripts":[{"title":"Reproducibility package for Are Robots Shifting Foreign Direct Investments?","date":"2026-04","notes":"Computational reproducibility verified by Development Impact (DECDI) Analytics team, World Bank.","instructions":"See README in reproducibility package.","file_name":"RR_WLD_2026_602","zip_package":"RR_WLD_2026_602.zip","dependencies":"Stata dependencies are listed in the ado folder."}],"repository_uri":[{"name":"Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank)","uri":"https:\/\/reproducibility.worldbank.org"}],"production_date":"2026-04-03","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.","geographic_units":[{"name":"World","code":"WLD"}],"keywords":[{"name":"Foreign Direct Investments"},{"name":"Industrial Robots"},{"name":"Technology"}],"topics":[{"id":"F21","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"International Investment \u2022 Long-Term Capital Movements","parent_id":"F2"},{"id":" O3","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Innovation \u2022 Research and Development \u2022 Technological Change \u2022 Intellectual Property Rights","parent_id":"O"}],"output":[{"type":"Working Paper","description":"Policy Research Working Papers (PRWP)","title":"Are Robots Shifting Foreign Direct Investments?"}],"language":[{"name":"English","code":"EN"}],"technology_requirements":"Run Time: 17 minutes","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.","license":[{"name":"Modified BSD3","uri":"https:\/\/opensource.org\/license\/bsd-3-clause\/"}],"contacts":[{"name":"Francesca de Nicola","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"fdenicola@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"reproducibility@worldbank.org"}],"technology_environment":"Paper exhibits were reproduced on a computer with the following specifications:\n\u2022 OS: Windows 11 Enterprise\n\u2022 Processor: Intel(R) Xeon(R) Gold 6226R CPU @ 2.90GHz, 2900 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)\n\u2022 Memory available: 16 GB","reproduction_instructions":"To reproduce the findings in this paper, a replicator must:\n1. **Secure Access to Data:** Access the datasets not included in the package. See subsection Datasets for more details.\n2. **Download and Place Data:** Once the data is accessed, users should place it in the appropriate folder.\n3. **Run the Package:** After placing the data in the folder:\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0- Update the working directory in line 13 of the do-file \"master\", and run it.\n\nSince 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.","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\n","access_type":"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.\n","license_uri":"https:\/\/terms.ftspecialist.com\/","uri":"https:\/\/terms.ftspecialist.com\/","citation":"The Financial Times Limited 2026. \"fDi Markets\" [dataset]. Accessed November 2024.\n"},{"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\n\n","access_type":"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.\n","license_uri":"https:\/\/vdma-verlag.com\/download_10BDB.html","uri":"https:\/\/ifr.org\/worldrobotics\/","citation":"International Federation of Robotics.2024. \"World Robotics Industrial Robots\" [dataset]. https:\/\/ifr.org\/worldrobotics\/\n"},{"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\n","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.\n","license":"OPEN LICENCE 2.0","license_uri":"https:\/\/www.etalab.gouv.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/open-licence.pdf","uri":"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\u00b02022-05, July 2022\n"},{"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\n","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.\n","license_uri":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/en\/about-us\/terms-of-use","uri":"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. \n"},{"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 \n","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.\n","license":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0)","license_uri":"https:\/\/www.worldbank.org\/en\/about\/legal\/terms-of-use-for-datasets","uri":"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\n"},{"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\n","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.\n","license_uri":"https:\/\/www.degruyterbrill.com\/publishing\/terms-conditions","uri":"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\" Jahrb\u00fccher f\u00fcr National\u00f6konomie und Statistik, vol. 242, no. 5-6, 2022, pp. 669-689. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1515\/jbnst-2021-0059\n"}]},"datacite":{"creators":[{"givenName":"Francesca de","familyName":"Nicola","nameType":"Personal","affiliation":[{"name":"World Bank"}]},{"givenName":"Shawn W.","familyName":"Tan","nameType":"Personal","affiliation":[{"name":"IFC"}]},{"givenName":"Aaron","familyName":"Tang","nameType":"Personal","affiliation":[{"name":"UCL"}]}],"titles":[{"lang":"en","title":"Reproducibility package for Are Robots Shifting Foreign Direct Investments?"},{"title":"RR_WLD_2026_602","titleType":"Other"}],"publisher":"World Bank","publicationYear":"2026","types":{"resourceType":"Reproducibility package","resourceTypeGeneral":"Other"},"url":"https:\/\/reproducibility.worldbank.org\/index.php\/catalog\/study\/RR_WLD_2026_602","language":"en"},"tags":[{"tag":"DOI"},{"tag":"Open Code"},{"tag":"Restricted Data"}],"schematype":"script"}