Eszter Lukacs

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
This study aims to systematically analyze and synthesize the existing scientific literature on the determinants of long-term capital flows, particularly Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into China, with a focus on how prior empirical studies examine the roles of trade openness, infrastructure development, institutional quality, and financial modernization. Using the PRISMA framework, the study systematically reviewed 114 peer-reviewed articles published between 1990 and 2025 to identify recent patterns, evaluate the impact of core sources, and highlight thematic trends in academic literature. The finding of this study indicates a clear upward trend in article production, with a significant jump from 124 publications in the UK to 1,855 in China, with China emerging as the leading contributor and host to several highly influential articles. The Journal of International Trade/Economics is the leading source with 109 documents, followed by China Economic Review (63), Research in Emerging Markets Finance and Trade (45), and Economic Modeling (36). A total of 780 authors contributed to these works, with 2.96 co-authors per document on average, but international co-authorship was limited. This study also highlighted FDI as a key theme with 254 counts following Economic Growth/Development (181 mentions) and Trade (146), which indicates a strong research interest in the role of capital flows and macroeconomic performance in the Chinese context. This study analyzed 639 articles for the bibliometric review, with a primary focus on FDI. However, other significant components of long-term capital flows, such as portfolio investment, external debt, and remittances, were not adequately covered, representing a key limitation of this study. Additionally, the direction of causality between FDI and China’s economic growth was not covered by this study.