Do Foreign Direct Investment, Energy Consumption and Urbanization Enhance Economic Growth in Six ASEAN Countries?

The neoclassical economic supporters have suggested that foreign direct investment and raw material (e.g., coal, electricity, gas, and oil) are critical economic growth inputs. Few previous studies have analyzed the relationship between foreign direct investment and energy consumption on economic growth. However, existing studies usually have applied the frequentist inference. The limitation of the frequentist inference is that, if the coefficient of the independent variable is not yet significant, then conclusions might be unreliable. By applying the Bayesian approach, the main aim of this study is to revisit the impact of foreign direct investment, electricity consumption, and urbanization on economic growth in six ASEAN countries from 1980 to 2016. The obtained outcome shows that the impact of electricity consumption is evident and positive on economic growth in both frequentist and Bayesian inferences. However, the influence of foreign direct investment is not identified by frequentist inference, while Bayesian inference provides evidence that foreign direct investment is a moderately positive impact on economic growth. The empirical result from Bayesian inference contributes to the literature on foreign direct investment modeling and could be of significant importance for a more efficient foreign direct investment attracting and achieve sustainability in the long-term.