Pegah Sadeghi - Department of Economic, Science and Research branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Hamid Shahrestani - Department of Economic, Science and Research branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Kambiz Hojhabr Kiani - Department of Economic, Science and Research branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Taghi Torabi - Department of Economic, Science and Research branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

T his study evaluates the causality relationship between human capital and foreign direct investment inflow in twenty-six OIC (the Organization of Islamic Cooperation) countries over the period ۱۹۷۰–۲۰۱۴. We employed the panel Granger non-causality testing approach of Kònya (۲۰۰۶) that is based on seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) systems, and Wald tests with country specific bootstrap critical values. The approach allows one to test for Granger non-causality on each member of panel, separately by taking into account the cross-sectional dependency and slope heterogeneity among countries investigated simultaneously. We found that the hypothesis of Granger non-causality from human capital to foreign direct investment (FDI) was rejected for more than half of the sample countries, mainly among African states. In addition, the effect magnitude of human capital on FDI varies among the states significantly.

Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Human capital, Seemingly Unrelated Equation System, Bootstrapping, OIC Countries. JEL Classification: C۲۱, F۲, F۲۱