As is standard in the literature, the dependent variable is the ratio of net FDI flows to GDP. My choice of independent variables was constrained by data availability. For example, data on important factors such as real wages, trade policies, and tax legislation are not readily available for most developing countries, particularly for countries in SSA. 9 Since my analysis calls for the inclusion of many African countries, I am unable to test the impact of these important variables on FDI. Indeed, this may explain why only a few African countries were included in previous studies. Below I describe the independent variables included in the analysis.