The impact of foreign direct investment on wages and employment

This paper studies the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI)on wages and employment When labor-management bargaining isindustry-wide, two effects of FDI are identified; the collusioneffect and the threat-point effect. It is shown that: (i) FDIalways reduces the negotiated wage; (ii) FDI reduces union employmentand the competitive wage if die union cares more about employmentthan wages or is equally concerned about employment and wages.However, if labor-mingement bargaining is firm-specific andunionization is industry-wide, then the above effects of FDIare substantially reduced.     

The complementarity between U.S. foreign direct investment stock and trade

Within a gravity model framework, this paper will establish that trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) are complementary, using trade and FDI stock data on a bilateral basis between the U.S. and 51 other countries over the period 1982 to 1994. U.S. outward FDI is found to have a larger predicted impact on U.S. exports than does inward FDI. On the other hand, inward FDI is found to have a larger predicted impact on U.S. imports than does U.S. outward FDI. These results are directly linked to patterns of intrafirm trade within the multinational enterprise (MNE), a result consistent with the transactions cost theory of MNEs. In addition, a sectoral analysis indicates that U.S. outward FDI in manufacturing has a large predicted impact on both exports and imports, whereas U.S. outward FDI in services has a large predicted impact on U.S. exports but little or no predicted impact on imports. Detailed comments and suggestions were provided by Joe Daniels, Albert Berry, and seminar participants at the University of Toronto, York University, Industry Canada, and the 1999 annual Canadian Economics Association meeting. Research assistance was provided by George Georgopoulos and Anthony Yao. The authors are responsible for any remaining errors.     

The impact of foreign direct investment on export structure and employment generation

The literature on foreign direct investment often treats its determinants and consequences independently. This is particularly so for empirical studies. The purpose of this paper is to consider both aspects simultaneously and to provide some empirical evidence on the nature of foreign investment and its impact on export structure and employment generation. The method consists of a model which includes both industry-specific and location-specific determinants of foreign direct investment in the export sector and their effects on the employment generating capacity of individual manufacturing industries. It is estimated for three-digit S.I.C. industries in Puerto Rico in 1979. The results suggest that Puerto Rico's export sector consists of US based firms producing on a large scale. These firms are primarily attracted to the island by relatively higher profits than on the mainland. Low wage labor is not considered an important inducement to foreign investment in Puerto Rico. The labor intensity of the island's export sector lags behind that of comparable countries due to the capital-intensive nature of its principal exports. The island's manufacturing employment can be more effectively increased by altering the composition of exports than by inducing present firms to hire more workers.     

A case study of the industrial organization theory of direct foreign investment

Conclusion This paper examines the industrial organization theory of DFI by means of a case study of the electronic calculator industry. The investigation is done by examining the relevant product, firm and industry characteristics. We began by focusing on and identifying the technological advances in electronic calculators and the firms responsible for those advances, to determine whether DFI coincided with technological superiority. The evidence presented shows that U.S. foreign investment in electronic calculators became significant during the third phase, when the U.S. firms gained technological leadership in electronic calculator production. The firms which enjoyed this technological leadership are the ones that initiated DFI. Foreign investment activities in electronic calculators were facilitated by a gradual trend toward a concentration of the industry structure in favor of the investors. In some cases, investors were large international firms to begin with. Thus, we can conclude that the industrial organization theory of DFI is supported by the experience of the electronic calculator industry. The fact that the investors themselves generally de-emphasized the cost consideration and emphasized the market potential as motivating factors in initiating DFI ventures provides further credence to this finding. Since the investors had something unique to offer and enjoyed sufficient market power to assume the risk of initiating foreign production to exploit this unique advantage in a potentially large market, they were least concerned about the cost of production. However, the cost factor played an important role behind the DFI in developing countries.     

Agglomeration and location of foreign direct investment: The case of China

This paper investigates the effect of agglomeration on foreign direct investment (FDI) location in China. We use different measures of agglomeration, and test both within and across region agglomeration effect. The results suggest that urbanization, foreign-specific agglomeration and industry diversity have positive impact on FDI location. Urbanization, foreign-specific agglomeration and industry specialization, also significantly promote industrial FDI. The results also suggest there exist both within and across region agglomeration effects. Other factors including market size, wage, education, road density, government policy and trade cost also have significant impacts on FDI location.     

Financial constraints and foreign direct investment: firm-level evidence

Low productivity is an important barrier to the cross-border expansion of firms. But firms may also need external finance to shoulder the costs of entering foreign markets. We develop a model of multinational firms facing real and financial barriers to foreign direct investment (FDI), and we analyze their impact on the FDI decision. Theoretically, we show that financial constraints can affect highly productive firms more than firms with low productivity because the former are more likely to expand abroad. We provide empirical evidence based on a detailed dataset of German domestic and multinational firms which contains information on parent-level financial constraints as well as on the location the foreign affiliates. We find that financial factors constrain firms’ foreign investment decisions, an effect felt in particular by firms most likely to consider investing abroad. The locational information in our dataset allows exploiting cross-country differences in contract enforcement. Consistent with theory, we find that poor contract enforcement in the host country has a negative impact on FDI decisions.     

Japanese foreign direct investment and regional trade

We examine the relationship between Japanese FDI outflows, domestic and foreign fixed investment, and the exchange rate. The results indicate that aggregate FDI outflows have been driven by investment in Japan and the exchange rate, while the geographic distribution of such investment has been influenced by foreign economic conditions. We also find that FDI outflows have a temporary impact on exports but a permanent effect on imports. We find no evidence that behavior with respect to East Asia differs from that with respect to North America or Europe.     

Business start-up regulations and the complementarity between foreign and domestic investment

This paper shows that the complementarity between foreign direct investment (FDI) and domestic investment significantly depends on regulations required to start a new domestically owned business in host economies. It finds evidence that FDI crowds out domestic investment in countries with entry regulation cost above a certain level, and many of these countries are in the bottom quartile of GDP per capita. Reforms in business start-up regulations can therefore play a critical role in enhancing the complementarity between foreign and domestic investment and thereby increase entrepreneurship and economic growth in low-income countries. The analysis takes into account other significant factors which affect domestic investment such as the cost of capital, government’s economic growth track record, institutional quality, and market size.     

The experience effect and foreign direct investment

Zusammenfassung Erfahrungseffekt und ausl?ndische Direktinvestitionen. - In diesem Aufsatz wird der Einflu? der Erfahrung auf die ausl?ndischen Direktinvestitionen U.S.-amerikanischer Firmen untersucht. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, da? allgemeine Erfahrungen aus internationalen Gesch?ften und l?nderspezifische Erfahrungen, die mit Hilfe von zwei verschiedenen Indikatoren operationalisiert werden, einen positiven Einflu? auf die ausl?ndischen Direktinvestitionen haben und da? dieser Einflu? bei Firmen mit ausgedehnten internationalen Aktivit?ten besonders bedeutsam ist. Um die Wirkung anderer Faktoren auf die ausl?ndischen Direktinvestitionen von dem Einflu? der Erfahrung unterscheiden zu k?nnen, werden einige l?nder- und firmenspezifische Faktoren in das Modell einbezogen.

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Résumé L’effet de l’expérience et l’investissement étranger direct. — Cette étude examine la répercussion de l’effet de l’expérience sur l’investissement étranger direct des entreprises américaines. Les résultats démontrent que l’expérience générale des opérations internationales et l’expérience dans un pays spécifique, représentée par deux indicateurs différents, ont une répercussion positive sur l’investissement étranger direct et que cette répercussion est plus significative pour les entreprises avec des opérations internationales extensives. Dans le modèle on a aussi inclu quelques facteurs caractérisant le pays dans lequel on fait l’investissement et des facteurs qui caractérisent les entreprises afin d’isoler mieux l’expérience comme facteur de l’investissement étranger direct.

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Resumen El efecto de la experiencia y la inversión extranjera directa. — En este trabajo se investiga el impacto del efecto experiencia sobre la inversión extranjera directa de empresas de los EE UU. Los resultados muestran que tanto la experiencia general en operaciones internationales como la experiencia especifica en paises determinados, operacionalizadas cada una de manera diferente, tienen un impacto positivo sobre la inversión extranjera directa, y que este impacto es más significante para empresas con amplias operaciones internacionales. Con el fin de distinguir el impacto de la experiencia sobre la inversión extranjera directa del de otros factores, también se incluyen en el modelo algunos factores relacionados con el país y factores relacionados con la empresa.

     

Global outsourcing or foreign direct investment: Why apple chose outsourcing for the iPod

A simple model is presented, where a firm's productivity is endogenized by its R&D investment. It shows that the most productive firms may prefer international outsourcing to foreign direct investment (FDI) in industries with a high innovation share. The high innovation share motivates the firms to economize on organizational cost in order to save resources for R&D investment, making outsourcing preferable to FDI because the former incurs a smaller organizational cost. This model helps explain why Apple Inc., belonging to the electronics industry, which has a particularly high innovation share, launched its innovative iPod through international outsourcing instead of FDI.     

Economic and political determinants of foreign direct investment

Four models explaining the flow of foreign direct investment in 80 less developed countries are econometrically estimated and compared by ex post forecasts. A politico-economic model which simultaneously includes economic and political determinants performs best. The higher the real per capita GNP and the lower the balance of payments deficit are, the more foreign direct investment is attracted. Among the political determinants the amount of bilateral aid coming from Western countries and multilateral aid has a stimulating effect, while help from communist countries has a negative effect. Political instability significantly reduces the inflow of foreign direct investment.     

外商对华投资新动向及汕头引进外商直接投资政策建议

<正> 中国加入WTO意味着第二轮更加彻底的全面大开放,跨国公司在中国投资战略由此进行了调整,提升了中国在全球布局中的战略地位,其对华直接投资出现新动向。作为中国最早对外开放的经济特区之一的汕头市应如何改善投资环境及调整引资策略,吸引更多的外商直接投资,更有效地利用外资以促进汕头经济的发展是一个值得深入探讨的问题。 一、外商在华投资新动向 1.投资规模继续扩大,新一轮投资热潮方兴未艾 2002年是我国加入WTO后的第一年,受加入世贸效应的带动,当年我国实     

Internalisation as a general theory of foreign direct investment: A critique

Conclusions The theory of internalisation does provide an explanation of certain types of FDI activities by MNEs. In particular, there are three areas where internalisation appears to provide an explanation of FDI as a specific form of international involvement by the MNE: these entail vertical integration, transfer pricing and quality control [Buckley, Casson, 1976; Casson, 1983].     

Determinants of foreign direct investment in Cambodia

This paper analyses the determinants of the factors that might influence inward FDI in Cambodia by referring to its economic, geographic, and political characteristics. Using exclusive unbalanced panel data sets during 1995–2005, for both approved and realized FDI for, respectively, seventeen and fifteen home countries, the estimation results show that the determinants of approved FDI and realized FDI are somewhat similar. The FDI home country's GDP, its bilateral trade with the host country and the exchange rate have a positive impact on inward FDI flows into Cambodia. As expected, geographic distance negatively affects the level of FDI inflows in Cambodia.