Fan, Joseph P. H.Morck, RandallXu, Lixin ColinYeung, Bernard2012-03-302012-03-302009World Development0305750Xhttps://hdl.handle.net/10986/5713Weak institutions impede foreign direction investment (FDI), yet China attracts massive FDI despite global media spotlighting its institutional infirmities. Standard institutional quality variables poorly track rapid transformations, like China's regime shift following Den Xiaoping's 1993 Southern Tour. Economy track record usefully augments these variables in such cases. Cross-country regressions controlling for institutional quality and economy track record reveal China's FDI inflow unexceptional. Rather, China's FDI inundation resembles analogous post-reform East Bloc events. Arguments that China's FDI inflow is inefficiently large because weak institutions deter domestic investment while special initiatives attract FDI are thus either unsupported or not unique to China.ENInternational InvestmentLong-term Capital Movements F210Multinational FirmsInternational Business F230Economic Development: Financial MarketsSaving and Capital InvestmentCorporate Finance and Governance O160International Linkages to DevelopmentRole of International Organizations O190Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies: Planning, Coordination, and Reform P210Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions: International Trade, Finance, Investment, and Aid P330Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions: Financial Economics P340Journal ArticleWorld Bank