The main goal of this paper is to assess the effect of remittances on economic growth and poverty reduction amongst the post-Soviet states, compared with other external sources of capital, such as foreign aid and foreign direct investment. In this paper we use a panel data set on economic growth and poverty estimates (poverty headcount, poverty gap and poverty severity) in 10 selected former post-Soviet republics i.e. Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). We found that, on average, a 1% increase in remittance flows provokes around a 0.25% rise in per capita GDP and a 2% decline in poverty severity. Remittances seem to have produced a significant reduction on poverty through increasing income and smoothing consumption levels.

This paper analyses the relevance of Colombian institutional quality in recent years in terms of the performance of its exports within a framework of trade openness. Based on the trade gravity model, we examine the effect of governance on the evolution of Colombian exports through an econometric approach that identifies, on the one hand, the influence of institutional quality, and on the other hand, the influence of the institutional distance between Colombia and its trading partners. We use a panel data set for 2005–2018, through which the export flows from Colombia to 136 of its trading partners are considered. The findings indicate that Colombian institutional quality and the institutional distance between the country and its partners are statistically significant and affect its foreign sales. Similarly, there is a prominent influence of regulatory quality and the rule of law variables in the performance of Colombian exports in relation to other variables included in the model. We conclude that the Colombian government must improve its institutional quality considerably as a fundamental step towards boosting its overseas sales, not least because the country’s institutional distance from the world average is notable, which also affects its exports.

Research on China?s role in the globalization of economic activity focuses mainly on its involvement in trade and on its competitiveness as a manufacturing location for foreign investors. However, since the mid-1990s China?s outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) has become an important part of its integration into the global economy. This dimension is poorly understood, and few empirical studies about the drivers behind Chinese OFDI have been published thus far. After reviewing critically the empirical literature, which provides ambiguous results about the explanatory power of some of the large list of determinants put forward, we aim to provide a more accurate description of the motives behind Chinese OFDI. Using a panel data approach for the period 1995 to 2009 and for a large host country sample, we identify some key drivers. We find that host market size, natural resources and FDI openness are of paramount relevance. However, the asset seeking hypothesis is not confirmed.