Sectoral Productivity – FDI Allocation Nexus in Bulgaria after the 2008 Global Crisis

Foreign direct investment (FDI) influx in Bulgarian economy has been studied comprehensively since the start of market transition in early 1990s.FDI were expected to be a major driver of the resurrection and restructuring of Bulgarian post-communist economy.Fifteen years after obtaining full EU membership of Bulgaria, this topic continues to receive an extraordinary degree of interests by economists especially in the enhancing processes of business globalization during the last decade.The major aim of this study is to suggest some preliminary results of an empirical analysis of the links between sectoral labor productivity and the intensity of foreign direct investment allocated to various sectors of Bulgarian economy.For this purpose, several specifications of an econometric model are estimated by panel data for the period 2008-2021.Annual data is used for the economic sectors defined in the framework of the International Standard Industrial Classification of economic activities (ISIC-2008).Statistically significant results are obtained for various effects of the sectoral allocation of FDI in the Bulgarian economy on the level of sectoral labor productivity.