This paper assesses the impact of constitutional changes on foreign direct investment (FDI) in 49 African countries during the period 1980–2020. The paper uses a dummy variable related to the year of the constitutional change and the number of changes during the study period to capture the frequency of constitutional changes. The results reveal that an increase in the frequency of constitutional changes negatively affects FDI. The negative relationship between constitutional change and FDI is consistent across different measures of constitutional change and FDI and is robust to alternative empirical approaches. These results suggest that frequent constitutional changes may create uncertainty and instability in the investment climate, which may discourage foreign investors from investing in these African countries. The study provides evidence for policymakers that a stable constitutional framework may attract FDI in African countries.

中文翻译：

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非洲的宪法不稳定和外国直接投资

本文评估了 1980 年至 2020 年期间宪法变革对 49 个非洲国家外国直接投资 (FDI) 的影响。本文使用与宪法变更年份和研究期间变更次数相关的虚拟变量来捕获宪法变更的频率。结果表明，宪法变革频率的增加对 FDI 产生负面影响。宪法变革与外国直接投资之间的负相关关系在宪法变革与外国直接投资的不同衡量标准中是一致的，并且对于其他实证方法来说是稳健的。这些结果表明，频繁的宪法变化可能会给投资环境带来不确定性和不稳定，这可能会阻碍外国投资者在这些非洲国家投资。该研究为政策制定者提供了证据，表明稳定的宪法框架可能会吸引非洲国家的外国直接投资。