Abstract Book of the 9th World Conference on Management, Business and Economics
Year: 2026
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Foreign Investment, Inequality, And the Kuznets Curve: A Sectoral and Historical Analysis of FDI In Francophone Africa (1990–2022)
Cassidy Fawcett
ABSTRACT:
This paper investigates the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and income inequality in 21 former French colonies in Sub-Saharan Africa from 1990 to 2022 using fixed-effects panel regressions. It hypothesizes that FDI follows a Kuznets-style inverted U-curve: initially increasing inequality, but later reducing it at higher levels of investment when institutional conditions improve. Further examination of this hypothesis will be done through a sectoral analysis.
Particular focus will be put on French-origin FDI to question the deeper neo-colonial economic dependencies that may be associated with such aid. Taken together, these findings suggest that FDI can support equitable development, but only when carefully aligned with domestic policy capacity, institutional strength, and strategic sectoral planning.
Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment (FDI); Income Inequality; Kuznets Curve; Francophone Africa; Sectoral Analysis; Neo-colonialism; Institutional Quality; Fixed-Effects Panel Regression; Colonial Legacy and Development