In democratic societies, public attitudes toward foreign direct investment (FDI) can influence FDI policy as in other policy areas but have been largely ignored in FDI literature. To bridge this gap, we investigate individual preferences toward inward FDI. We employ a conjoint (vignette) survey experiment and analyze the determinants of preferences toward acquisitions by foreign firms. Conjoint survey experiments allow us to simultaneously estimate the effects of various attributes of foreign acquisitions, enabling us to analyze the complex causal relationships between various attributes of an acquisition project and people’s antipathy toward it. The results of the experiment show that the nationality of the foreign firm, reciprocity, and the economic conditions of the location of the firm being acquired are important factors. The subgroup analysis shows that older respondents and women are more negative about inward FDI. We also employ the gravity equation and confirm that our survey results are in line with the actual pattern of inward FDI stock.

在民主社会中，公众对外国直接投资 (FDI) 的态度可以像其他政策领域一样影响 FDI 政策，但在 FDI 文献中很大程度上被忽视了。为了弥补这一差距，我们调查了个人对外国直接投资流入的偏好。我们采用联合（小插图）调查实验，分析外国公司收购偏好的决定因素。联合调查实验使我们能够同时估计外国收购的各种属性的影响，使我们能够分析收购项目的各种属性与人们对其反感之间的复杂因果关系。实验结果表明，外国公司的国籍、互惠性以及被收购公司所在地的经济条件是重要因素。亚组分析显示，年龄较大的受访者和女性对流入的 FDI 更为消极。我们还运用重力方程来确认我们的调查结果与FDI存量流入的实际模式相符。