Does infrastructure promote exports and foreign direct investment in selected Southeast Asian economies? An application of global infrastructure index

PurposeInfrastructure deficiency in Southeast Asian countries is ever growing and touched to a level where it harms the local economy as well as the international sector of the country. The gap between demand and supply for infrastructure is constantly on the upswing. The purpose of this study to investigate the effect of infrastructure on exports and foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow in selected Southeast Asian economies.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs the pooled mean group (PMG) technique to velaborate that how the infrastructure affects export and FDI in the short run and long run during 1990–2018. For cointegration, Pedroni and Kao tests are used. Dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) and the fully modified least squares (FMOLSs) estimators are employed for robustness check.FindingsThe findings support that aggregate and sub-indices of infrastructure significantly promote the export and FDI inflow in the long run. Also infrastructure, export and FDI inflow are cointegrated in the long run. FMOLS and DOLS found the most robust results.Originality/valueInfrastructure development in determining trade and FDI has established a significant deal of attention in the modern era where a plethora of research studies encourage the opinion that better infrastructure attracts FDI and enhances export. However, this study uses a global infrastructure index, which comprises the sub-indices like transport, telecommunication, energy and financial sector, which gives us a clear picture regarding how Southeast Asia can catch up FDI and export benefits through infrastructure.