FACTORS FOR INCREASING REGIONAL INVESTMENT ATTRACTIVENESS AND THEIR IMPACT ON ECONOMIC GROWTH
Keywords:
regional investment attractiveness, economic growth, institutional quality, foreign direct investment, infrastructure, human capital, transition economies, Uzbekistan.Abstract
This thesis investigates the multidimensional factors that determine regional investment attractiveness and examines their causal relationship with economic growth outcomes. Drawing upon contemporary theoretical frameworks — including New Economic Geography (Krugman, 1991), the Institutional Economics approach (North, 1990), and the Resource-Based View of regional competitiveness (Porter, 2000) — the study synthesizes empirical evidence from transition economies, with particular emphasis on Central Asian contexts. The research identifies five principal factor clusters — institutional quality, infrastructure capital, human capital endowment, innovation ecosystem, and macroeconomic stability — and evaluates each cluster's relative contribution to attracting foreign and domestic investment flows. The findings suggest that institutional reforms and infrastructure development jointly explain a significant share of regional investment variance, while innovation capacity serves as a critical amplifier of long-term growth trajectories. Policy implications underscore the necessity of integrated, territory-sensitive strategies for regions seeking to enhance their investment climate as a prerequisite for sustainable economic advancement.
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