Microdatabase Direct Investment (MiDi) – A full survey of German inward and outward investment

Abstract

Abstract The research dataset “Microdatabase Direct Investment” is a dataset on foreign direct investment (FDI) stocks based on the official German FDI microdata. The original data are collected on an annual basis by the Deutsche Bundesbank to compile the FDI stock statistics for Germany. Making this official data available to researchers via the MiDi database provides a research dataset on direct investment relationships that is unique both in terms of data available and in the depth of cross-border shareholdings, covering all years since 1999. In this paper, we explain the central properties of this dataset and demonstrate its usefulness for research.