Macro statistics on foreign direct investment (FDI) are blurred by offshore financial centers with enormous inward and outward investment positions. This paper uses new data sources, both macro and micro, to estimate the global FDI network while disentangling real investment and phantom investment and allocating real investment to ultimate investor economies. We find that Phantom FDI into corporate shells with no substance and no real links to the local economy accounts for around 40 percent of global FDI. Ignoring Phantom FDI and allocating Real FDI to ultimate investors increases the explanatory power of standard gravity variables by around 25 percent.

由于离岸金融中心拥有巨大的对内和对外投资头寸，外国直接投资（FDI）的宏观统计数据变得模糊。本文使用新的宏观和微观数据源来估计全球 FDI 网络，同时区分真实投资和虚拟投资，并将真实投资分配给最终投资者经济体。我们发现，进入企业空壳的虚假 FDI 与当地经济没有任何实质内容和实际联系，约占全球 FDI 的 40%。忽略虚拟 FDI 并将真实 FDI 分配给最终投资者，可以将标准引力变量的解释力提高约 25%。