ERIA Teatime Seminar entitled "Investment Promotion Agencies: Do They Work?" was held on January 28, 2011 at ERIA annex office. Invited lecturers were Prof. Hyun-Hoon Lee from Kangwon National University, and Dr. Kazunobu Hayakawa from Institute of Developing Economies.

They explained their empirical study on the role of investment promotion agencies (IPAs) such as JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization) and KOTRA (Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency) in promoting outward FDI from Japan and Korea. By applying a Gravity model to FDI flow, they tried to find out its role in promoting outward FDI to all the countries of the world.  Their results suggested that home-country IPAs tend to be more effective in promoting outward FDI in politically risky host countries. They pointed out, however, that the positive effect of home country IPAs on outward FDI in politically risky countries is limited to unlisted home-country firms, which are widely assumed to be less competitive and productive.

After the presentation, a lively discussion regarding econometrical methodologies, the role and trend of IPAs and policy implications deduced from the study was conducted.