Foreign direct investment and inequality: Evidence from China's policy change

In this paper, we examine the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on local urban inequality in China. Specifically, we consider the FDI policy change as an exogenous shock on the local labour markets. We find that cities that have experienced a bigger policy change in promoting FDI between 1997 and 2002 are significantly more unequal in 2005. This pattern is mainly driven by the positive association between FDI liberalisation and skill premia. The result holds after we control for other policy changes, such as privatisation of state-owned enterprises, infrastructure and trade liberalisation. We then turn to investigate the mechanisms using firm and individual-level information. Our firm-level evidence shows that FDI firms not only hire relatively more high-skilled workers but also provide relatively higher wages to high-skilled workers compared to domestic firms. Moreover, the individual-level analysis shows that FDI has a significantly positive spillover effect on wages received by skilled workers employed by state-owned enterprises, but not wages of unskilled workers.     

Links between foreign direct investment and human capital formation: Evidence from the manufacturing sector in India

This paper is related to the literature on the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the labour market of host countries. Labour market literature has focused on the demand side of FDI; that is, increasing wage inequality by demanding more skilled workers or just increasing the overall average wages. On the supply side, FDI can enrich the skilled labour force of the host country by the provision of on-the-job training or learning or through indirect technological spillover effects. This paper takes into account both these effects and tests for human capital formation effect of FDI in India for core manufacturing sector firms for the period 2001–2015 using the Prowess database of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy. It also takes into account the endogeneity of decision-making on the part of foreign firms in locating FDI. Different dynamic panel data methods are used with static and dynamic generalized method of moments techniques. This study does not find any positive supply-side human capital formation effects of FDI but finds a positive demand-side effect of FDI of raising wage inequality and average wages. The results remain robust while taking into account heterogeneities at region, industry, size, and age of the firms.     

Multinational enterprises and domestic wages: The contingent effect of skill composition

While previous literature has extensively shown that foreign-owned firms pay higher wages than domestically owned firms, the examination of intra-industry wage spillovers between foreign-owned and domestic companies has received much less attention, particularly among non-core EU economies. In this paper, we contribute to the literature on wage spillovers of foreign multinational enterprises onto domestic firms by considering whether the presence of MNE subsidiaries in the Spanish manufacturing industry affects wages in domestic firms in the same industry. Although no evidence supports the existence of wage spillovers from MNEs onto domestic firms on aggregate, we show that the effect of this outside presence on domestic wages is significantly more positive in step with the higher level of workers’ skills in domestic firms. Because only workers in domestic firms with a highly skilled workforce will benefit from wage spillovers from the foreign firm presence in the industry, policy makers need bear in mind that not all FDI will automatically generate spillover benefits to domestic firms.     

Productivity, wages and intrinsic motivations

There is a long-standing debate in labour economics on the impact of workers’ intrinsic motivations on equilibrium wages. One direction in economic theory suggests that intrinsically motivated workers are willing to accept lower wages and “donate” work, for example, in terms of unpaid overtime (the donative-labour hypothesis). In the other direction, intrinsic motivations are expected to increase worker productivity and, in turn, wages (the intrinsic motivation-productivity hypothesis). Using a new database of a sample of workers in the cooperative non-profit sector, we find that, consistently with the motivation-productivity hypothesis, more motivated workers earn significantly higher wages, which signals higher productivity. Evidence supporting the donative-labour hypothesis is weaker, even though a generally positive connection between motivations and work-donation is confirmed. We interpret these findings by arguing that the impact of the donative-labour effect is dominated by the intrinsic motivation-productivity effect.     

Wage convergence and trade

We examine differences in wage rates across countries for workers employed in the same industry, distinguishing workers in the low, medium and high‐skill groups. These differences are large and show persistence over time. We ask, nonetheless, whether there is evidence of convergence, much as is done in studies of convergence in per capita income across countries. With our focus on the micro level, we expect convergence to reflect, at least in part, the degree of integration of a country or industry into the world economy and examine particularly the role of market integration and trade. Our results show strong evidence of convergence in a diverse sample of 39 countries, which includes most large economies whether rich or poor. The estimated convergence rate over the period from 1995 to 2008 is about 4% per year for workers in all skill groups, higher in the more integrated economies of the EU than in other economies without such open borders and lower in industries supplying services rather than manufactures. Also, we find evidence that the rate of growth of domestic output impacts positively on the growth of wages in an industry, providing a source for ongoing deviations from the convergence prediction.     

Foreign direct investment and wages: a cross-country analysis

While globalization has led to overall economic growth in a number of countries, questions abound on its distributional effects, especially on rising wage inequality across nations. The main objective of this study is to investigate empirically the effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) on wages in a cross-country setting. We investigate the general equilibrium propositions that capital inflows (outflows) increase (lower) wages in host (home) countries due to the change in relative factor endowments. We also explore whether capital inflows have differential impacts on skilled and unskilled wages in developing economies. Time-series data on 26 countries, 15 developed and 11 developing, are used to fit the labour share equation derived from a translog GNP function with net FDI stock as one of its arguments. Results confirm that capital movement brings about a cross-country convergence of wages. However, there is some evidence that inward FDI flows increase the wage gap between skilled and unskilled workers in developing countries.     

Firm heterogeneity and FDI-related productivity spillovers: A theoretical investigation

A number of existing empirical studies have attempted to estimate the foreign direct investment (FDI)-related productivity spillover effects to domestic firms in host economies using various methodologies and measures of FDI. This literature has produced mixed results. While some studies found positive spillovers, others reported zero or even negative spillovers. In this paper, using a model of firm heterogeneity, we provide a rigorous theoretical justification for the mixed findings. We show that FDI-related productivity spillover effects can be decomposed into a direct and an indirect effect. If the direct effect is positive then relatively less capable domestic firms that were not able to survive in the industry (before the arrival of foreign firms) can enter the industry, which decreases the average (expected) productivity of the industry. If this indirect effect is sufficiently strong then the overall impact of FDI on productivity of domestic firms can be zero or negative. Hence, irrespective of the type of FDI (vertical or horizontal) and control variables included in empirical models, one may find negative or zero spillover effects.     

Does FDI Spur Productivity,Knowledge Sourcing and Innovation by Incumbent Firms? Evidence from Manufacturing Industry in Estonia

Does FDI affect knowledge sourcing activities, innovation and productivity growth of domestic firms? This study employs firm‐level panel data from Estonia’s manufacturing sector to investigate different channels through which FDI affects domestic firms. Based on instrumental variables approach, I find no evidence of an effect of FDI entry on local incumbents’ short‐term productivity growth. However, there is positive association between the entry of FDI and the more direct measures of spillovers. FDI inflow to a sector is associated with more knowledge flows to domestic firms and increase in their innovation activities.     

外商直接投资、劳动力市场一体化与中国纺织业就业

本文研究FDI通过竞争效应、技术溢出效应和制度变迁效应三种渠道对纺织业就业产生的间接影响,并综合考察FDI通过直接渠道和间接渠道对就业产生的总体效应。研究结论表明,FDI促进了纺织业就业,其中FDI对纺织业就业的直接影响是正向的,间接影响是负向的;FDI通过竞争效应和技术溢出效应阻碍了纺织业的就业增加;劳动力市场的一体化程度没有对纺织业就业产生影响。     

Foreign Direct Investment,Productivity, Demand for Skilled Labour and Wage Inequality: An Analysis of Uruguay

This study seeks to identify the causal effects of foreign ownership on productivity, the demand for skilled labour and wage inequality. With this aim, we use differences‐in‐differences techniques for a panel of Uruguayan manufacturing firms in the period 1997–2005. Our results seem to indicate that FDI causes higher productivity and increased demand for skilled labour. Furthermore, although average wages are higher in foreign‐owned firms than in domestic ones, the wage gap between skilled and unskilled workers is wider. It follows that promoting foreign investment enhances productivity. In addition, due to the greater demand for skilled workers, policies such as training schemes would be conducive to raising productivity still further, while other social policies could help to mitigate the wage inequality effects.     

How do Firms’ Outward FDI Strategies Relate to their Activity at Home? Empirical Evidence for the UK

This paper provides new empirical evidence on the relationship between the structure of firms’ overseas FDI and the performance and organisation of their home‐country operations in both manufacturing and business services. It addresses two questions. First, does sorting into multinational status on the basis of productivity extend to the scale of overseas activity? Second, is there evidence that off‐shoring to low‐wage countries has asymmetric effects on high and low‐skill activities in the home economy? The paper considers heterogeneity in firms’ outward FDI strategies and in their behaviour at home, distinguishing between low‐skill and high‐skill‐intensive activities. I differentiate between firms that invest in relatively low‐wage economies and hence might be engaged in vertical FDI, and those that only invest in high‐wage economies. I find that firms that invest in low‐wage economies simultaneously invest in a large number of high‐wage economies, employing complex FDI strategies. I add to existing evidence by demonstrating that selection into multinational status on productivity extends beyond the decision of whether or not to engage in FDI, to the geographic scope of overseas operations. This is consistent with the highest productivity firms being best able to overcome large fixed costs of establishing multiple overseas facilities. I find evidence consistent with differential effects of vertical FDI on firms’ high and low‐skill manufacturing activity in the UK. Relocating low‐skill activity to relatively low‐wage economies could enable a firm to expand output, with potential positive effects on investment, employment and output in complementary (high‐skill) activities at home. For firms investing in relatively low‐wage economies, I find that labour in these countries may substitute for relatively low‐skilled labour in the UK. In high‐skill manufacturing industries I find that multinationals that invest in low‐wage economies are larger, more capital intensive and more intensive in their use of intermediate inputs than other UK‐owned firms.     

A meta‐analysis of the indirect impact of foreign direct investment in old and new EU member states: Understanding productivity spillovers

In this paper, we summarise, combine and explain recent findings from firm‐level empirical literature focusing on the indirect impact of foreign direct investment (FDI ) on economic performance, measured as productivity, in the Enlarged Europe. We have reviewed 52 quantitative studies, released between 2000 and 2015 and codified 1,133 estimates. We run a regression of regressions which measures the strength of the FDI –productivity relationship. Taking advantage of large number of high‐quality studies on FDI and its role in explaining the growth in firms’ productivity in Europe, we adopt recent meta‐regression analysis methods—funnel asymmetry and precision estimate tests and precision‐effect estimate with standard errors —to explain the heterogeneous impact of FDI . This paper assesses the country‐specific impact of FDI on firms’ performance, after taking publication selection bias, econometric modelling and the individual studies’ characteristics fully into account. Our results show that on average FDI has a positive indirect impact on productivity. The impact is especially significant in selected European countries, and we interpret this as a sign of better absorptive capacities in those countries.     

Does foreign direct investment really enhance China's regional productivity?

While foreign direct investment (FDI) is widely recognized as one of major driving forces on promoting the regional economic growth in China, its impact on regional productivity is unclear and less systematically investigated. This article investigates the effect of FDI on regional productivity in China. Specifically, we adopt a newly developed measure of total factor productivity (TFP) to deal with the endogenous inputs choice accompanied with various measures of FDI, enabling to provide robust estimates on the TFP effect of FDI. Moreover, we examine the role of absorptive ability on the FDI-TFP nexus and explore the existence of FDI spillover effect on productivity across regions. The potential difference in productivity effect of FDI between coastal and non-coastal regions is also examined. Based on the province-level panel dataset over the period 1997–2006, the various estimates show that the overall productivity effect of FDI is significantly positive, while this effect depends heavily on the host region's absorptive ability. Technological gap is found to associate with a significantly negative coefficient along with the finding that FDI tends to exhibit a higher impact on productivity in coastal regions than their non-coastal counterparts, highlighting a widening income inequality between coastal and non-coastal regions in China.     

The Effects of Offshoring on Post‐displacement Wages: Evidence from the United States

This paper studies the effects of offshoring on post‐displacement wages using a large and nationally representative sample of US workers displaced from a manufacturing industry during the 1990s. The empirical results based on Mincerian regressions of individual re‐employment earnings on industry‐level offshoring proxies, show that the effects of offshoring on post‐displacement wages are negative, although not economically large. The preferred specifications suggest, in fact, that a one percentage point increase in offshoring in the pre‐displacement industry reduces earnings on the new job by approximately 0.3–0.6 per cent. These figures imply that the cumulative rise in offshoring over the sample period may have led to a drop of between US$110 and US$330 in the yearly re‐employment wages of US displaced workers. While the magnitude of the effect is largely independent of individual characteristics such as gender, age, occupation and educational level, it does depend on the duration of non‐employment and on workers’ industrial reallocation after displacement. In particular, the effects are relatively stronger for individuals who stay longer before finding a new job, as well as for those who leave the pre‐displacement industry after the job loss.     

Foreign Direct Investment,Competition and Industry Performance

This paper investigates the productivity effects of inward and outward foreign direct investment using industry‐ and country‐level data for 17 OECD countries over the period 1973 to 2001. Controlling for national and international knowledge spillovers we argue that the effects of FDI work through direct compositional effects as well as changing competition in the host country. Our results show that there are, on average, productivity benefits from inward FDI, although we can identify a number of countries which, on aggregate, do not appear to benefit in terms of productivity. On the other hand, a country's stock of outward FDI is, on average, negatively related to productivity. However, again there is substantial heterogeneity in the effect across OECD countries.     

Good or bad? The influence of FDI on productivity growth. An industry-level analysis

This paper attempts to reconcile the often inconclusive evidence on the role of FDI in the process of economic development by taking into account the heterogeneity both among industries and among countries. Using a comparable database at the industry level for 35 countries in the OECD, Asia and Eastern Europe from 1987 to 2002, we test for the influence of both stage of development and sectoral FDI patterns in the relationship between FDI and productivity growth. In certain industries and for the catching-up countries, a significant and positive relationship emerges when FDI coincides with high investment or export orientation.     

Wage and competition channels of foreign direct investment and new firm entry

Using a rich data set of the Dutch manufacturing sector between 1995 and 2010, we investigate the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on domestic new firm entry. The emerging empirical literature has focused on the direct relationship between FDI and entry, but has not explored the mechanisms behind the observed effect. Drawing on a simultaneous equations model, our analysis features both the direct effect of FDI as well as indirect effects through two channels: industry competition and wages. We estimate the parameters through 3SLS and take into account the endogeneity of competition and wages with respect to entry. Our results show that there is a significant negative direct effect of FDI on entry. At the same time, FDI decreases competition and increases wage levels, which then impact entry positively and negatively, respectively. The total effect of FDI is negative, but small and virtually disappears after one year. Policy implications are discussed.

     

The Effects of Greenfield FDI and Cross‐border M&As on Total Factor Productivity

We examine the effects of greenfield FDI and cross‐border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) on total factor productivity (TFP) in developed and developing host countries of FDI. Using panel data for up to 123 countries over the period from 2003 to 2011, we find that greenfield FDI has no statistically significant effect on TFP, while M&As have a positive effect on TFP in the total sample. Greenfield FDI and M&As both appear to be ineffective in increasing TFP in the subsample of developing countries. In contrast, M&As have a strong and positive effect on TFP in the subsample of developed countries.     

外国直接投资对我国制造业技术溢出的渠道研究

外国直接投资(FDI)对内资企业的技术溢出有不同的渠道效应。本文首先利用Malmquist指数方法测算出了我国制造业全要素生产率(TFP),并将TFP分解成技术进步指标与技术效率指标,利用脉冲响应函数和Geweke分解检验分别动态模拟了FDI对技术进步与技术效率两种渠道的影响程度,以及FDI与两者的因果关系。研究表明:FDI对制造业生产率的溢出机制主要是通过对技术效率的提升表现出来的,但对技术进步的促进作用不明显。     

Foreign Direct Investment and Total Factor Productivity Growth: New Macro‐Evidence

Although the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) in facilitating technology transfer is well known in the literature, empirical evidence regarding the effect of FDI on growth is mixed. The contradictory results in the literature may be due to the failure to account for endogeneity and for the abortive capacity of the hosting countries. Using panel data for 49 countries over the period 1974–2008 and the existence of Investment Promotion Agencies in the receiving countries as an instrument, our results show that increased FDI stock leads to higher productivity growth. We also find a significant positive effect on the interaction between FDI stock and distance to the technological frontier, suggesting that the ability of technologically backward countries in absorbing technologies developed at the frontiers increases as more FDI stock is accumulated.