基于金融发展视角下的FDI与经济增长研究综述

众多的决策者与学者相信外商直接投资（FDI）有利于促进东道国的经济增长。但是实证研究结果却表明,FDI的经济增长效应在许多发展中国家却并不明确,主要原因在于FDI效应受到东道国自身环境和条件（即吸收能力）的制约。东道国的金融发展主要通过人力资本效应、技术创新效应、产业关联效应以及市场环境优化效应等机制对FDI与经济增长的关系产生影响。金融发展已经成为东道国FDI效应有效发挥的核心要素。也是未来FDI研究的一个重要的新方向。     

FDI与中国技术创新能力的协整分析——基于中国1990-2005年数据

外国直接投资(FDI)对东道国提高生产率、增强国内产业的竞争力具有重要贡献。FDI在对中国经济增长做出贡献的同时,是否也促进了中国技术创新能力的提高?文章运用协整与格兰杰因果检验方法考察了1990-2005年流入中国的FDI和专利授权量之间的关系。研究结果表明,FDI流量与专利授权量存在长期稳定的均衡关系,但FDI流量对专利授权量的贡献在短期内是不明显的。FDI流入类型、中国企业的吸收能力以及FDI与中国企业的互动关系是造成这一现象的主要原因。     

人力资本流动对FDI技术溢出效应的影响——基于吸收能力的实证研究

人力资本流动对增强东道国自身技术吸收能力具有重要意义。本文选取来华留学生数与留学回国人数以及外资就业率作为人力资本流动的代理指标,使用数据包络分析方法（DEA）来测算技术进步,就人力资本流动对FDI技术吸收能力的影响进行了实证分析,并得出结论：FDI和人力资本流动相结合与技术进步存在正相关关系．但正效应并不显著。因此,我国应当提高人力资本流动质量,提升其总体水平,为FDI技术溢出创造优越的人才环境。     

The impact of horizontal and vertical FDI on host's country economic growth

In this paper, we contribute to the literature investigating the impact of FDI on host country economic growth by distinguishing between the growth effects of horizontal (market seeking) FDI and vertical (efficiency seeking) FDI. Using a new database, we estimate the growth effects of vertical and horizontal US MNE activity into 44 host countries over the period 1983–2003, also using traditional total FDI figures as a benchmark. Controlling for endogeneity and absorptive capacity effects, we find that horizontal and vertical FDI have positive and significant growth effects in developed countries. Moreover, our results indicate a superior growth effect of horizontal FDI over vertical FDI. In line with existing literature, we find no significant effects of horizontal or vertical FDI in developing countries.     

Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Growth in SSA: The Role of Institutions

This article examines the relationship among foreign direct investment (FDI), institutions and economic growth in sub‐Saharan Africa in different country environs. We employ a two‐step generalized methods of moments estimator with Weidmeijer corrected standard errors and orthogonal deviations to examine the empirical relations. In the full sample, we do not find evidence that FDI promotes growth. We also do not find a significant relationship between institutions and economic growth. Finally, we do not find convincing evidence that institutions alter favorably the effect of FDI on economic growth. In the subsample that excludes countries with developed financial markets, again we do not find a significant relation between FDI and economic growth. However, we find evidence suggesting that institutions play a direct role in spurring economic growth. Further, the quality of institutions seems to alter favorably the relationship between FDI and economic growth. Finally, in the sample that excludes countries with abundant natural resources, we find a direct and positive relationship between FDI and economic growth. We also find a direct relationship between institutions and economic growth. The growth‐enhancing effects of FDI, however, seem to reduce as the quality of institutions improves. The major implication from our study is that countries should take into consideration their own realities when they fashion policies to benefit from FDI in terms of achieving better growth outcomes. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Spillovers from foreign direct investment and firm growth: technological,financial and market structure effects

This article examines spillover effects from inward investment on domestic firm growth in the case of a developed host country. The emphasis is placed on the role of the technological gap between domestic and foreign firms in identifying the importance of technology diffusion from the presence of multinationals. An augmented production function is employed to account for technological, financial and market structure effects. Based on a sample of 2589 manufacturing firms operating in Greece between 1992 and 1997, the analysis provides evidence that the significance of spillovers varies with the relative technological position of domestic firms and is higher in the middle and upper quantiles of the growth distribution. It was estimated that a unit increase in the foreign presence in Greek industry raises output growth by 7% on average, in a five‐year period, after controlling for technological differences among firms. This result is consistent with the ‘absorptive capacity’ hypothesis that the technological capability of the host country relates positively to FDI spillover benefits.     

A note on export-platform Foreign Direct Investment,training and absorptive capacity

The empirical literature on FDI suggests that investment in training is the major source of human resource development activities undertaken by MNEs, particularly those with sophisticated technologies, and host countries' absorptive capacity plays an important role in attracting FDI. We develop a model of export-platform FDI that provides theoretical rationalisation of the role played by a host country's absorptive capacity in determining MNEs' location decisions as well as their level of investment and training–and, through this, the extent to which they contribute to human capital formation in the host country.     

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.     

The Causal Relationship Between Information and Communication Technology and Foreign Direct Investment

This paper investigates the simultaneous causal relationship between investments in information and communication technology (ICT) and flows of foreign direct investment (FDI), with reference to its implications on economic growth. For the empirical analysis we use data from 23 major countries with heterogeneous economic development for the period 1976–99. Our causality test results suggest that there is a causal relationship from ICT to FDI in developed countries, which means that a higher level of ICT investment leads to an increase inflow of FDI. ICT may contribute to economic growth indirectly by attracting more FDI. Contrarily, we could not find significant causality from ICT to FDI in developing countries. Instead, we have partial evidence of opposite causality relationship: the inflow of FDI causes further increases in ICT investment and production capacity.     

Are there demonstration-related spillovers from FDI?: Evidence from Switzerland

This paper examines whether there are signs of demonstration-related spillovers from foreign direct investment (FDI). It hypothesizes that the size and the extent of such benefits vary according to the level of the absorptive capacity of local firms. Using detailed firm data from Swiss manufacturing and services/construction, we find strong evidence for demonstration-related spillovers when (a) local firms are not far behind the technological frontier of the industry with a technological gap slightly greater than one, and (b) local firms demonstrate high investment in the absorptive capacity. The results are found to be more consistent in manufacturing than services/construction.     

Productivity spillovers from foreign direct investment: evidence from Turkish micro-level data

This paper analyzes the productivity spillovers from foreign direct investment (FDI) using Turkish firm-level data for a more recent time period, 2003–2010, which coincides with significant FDI inflows both in manufacturing and service sectors in the region. The empirical model is derived from endogenous growth theory whereby the rate of technological progress is partly determined by technology transfers and spillovers from international contacts, our exclusive focus being on FDI-induced spillovers. The impact of FDI onto the firm-level productivity is evaluated via the channels of horizontal and vertical linkages. The empirical results show that horizontal linkages decrease the productivity of firms, whereas vertical linkages exert a positive impact onto the local productivity levels, thereby drawing attention of policy makers towards strengthening of supplier–buyer relationship between local and multinationals in order to optimize the benefits from FDI. This study also acknowledges the heterogeneity of local (foreign) firms and their differential capacity to absorb (exude) the FDI-induced externalities.     

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.     

International R&D spillovers in emerging markets: The impact of trade and foreign direct investment

While economic theory predicts that growth in developing countries will gain significantly from technology spillovers, the empirical evidence on this issue remains relatively scarce. The present study focuses on a panel of 27 transition and 20 developed countries between 1990 and 2006 and uses the latest developments in panel unit root and cointegration techniques to disentangle the effects of international spillovers via inflows of trade and FDI on total factor productivity (TFP). The findings show that imports remain the main channel of diffusion for both sets of countries, while FDI, although statistically significant, has a lower impact on productivity of the recipients. The domestic R&D capital stock plays an active role in Western Europe while in the Eastern part it is less significant owing to lower levels, transitional disinvestment and relative obsolescence. Human capital affects TFP directly as a factor of production as well as indirectly by enhancing a country's absorptive capacity. In aggregate, the results show that transition countries from Eastern Europe and Central Asia seem to enjoy bigger productivity gains from the international diffusion process than their Western counterparts.     

A race to lower standards? Labor standards and location choice of outward FDI from the BRIC countries

Scholars argue that multinational corporations tend to locate their investment in countries with lower labor standards, but empirical results are highly inconsistent. In this paper, we investigate the effect of differential labor standards on the location choice of outward greenfield foreign direct investment (FDI) from Brazil, Russia, India and China (i.e. the BRIC countries). We find robust evidence that while there is a tendency toward the attraction of FDI by lower labor standards in developed countries, such a “race” is absent in FDI directed to developing countries. Location choice is highly path dependent upon previous trading relations between the home and the host country, which hampers the MNCs’ ability to arbitrage. Conversely, capital mobility at the industry level is found to intensify the race to lower standards.     

Is FDI Integrating the World Economy?

FDI's spectacular growth, in diverse forms, during the past two decades represented an important force generating greater economic integration. FDI increased substantially in relation to global productive capacity, cross border mergers and acquisitions component of FDI put domestic corporate laggards on notice, and the spread of FDI to non‐tradable service sectors generated the possibility that these traditionally low productivity sectors would be brought closer to the standards of international efficiency. Yet, FDI did not perform an integrating role in a more fundamental sense. There is little evidence that FDI served to speed up income convergence across countries. This was the case for two reasons. First, FDI flows remained highly concentrated. Second, the benefits from FDI appear to have accrued principally where conditions were already conducive to investment and growth. Hence, though cross‐country disciplines through bilateral, regional and multilateral efforts are important in reducing the distortions that lead to misallocation of capital, domestic efforts to raise absorptive capacity will ultimately be critical. Efforts to increase labour mobility, as foreseen, for example, under GATS, could have a significant effect in raising the benefits from FDI as the more mobile labour serves to bridge the cultural, institutional and contractual differences across nations.     

Foreign direct investment and entrepreneurship: Does the role of institutions matter?

Development economics, international business, and entrepreneurship literature suggest that foreign direct investment (FDI) has significant positive spillover effects for entrepreneurial activities of host economies. However, the findings of past research are mixed, and they do not always confirm this suggestion. We argue that the reason for conflicting findings may be because of an incomplete understanding of the factors that influence the FDI-entrepreneurship nexus in different contexts. Previous studies have carried out only limited exploration of the contingencies in the FDI and domestic entrepreneurship relationship that may depend on the host country’s institutional capacity. We argue that not all countries can reap the rewards from FDI equally. Rather, we hypothesize that countries need to have a sufficient degree of institutional capacity relevant to specific conditions and appropriate threshold levels to successfully capture the positive spillover effects of FDI on domestic entrepreneurship. Utilizing panel data from 2006 to 2016 for 97 emerging markets, developing and developed countries (at different income levels), and a System Generalized Method of Moments (SGMM) estimator that controls for instrument proliferation in dealing with endogeneity problems, we test this hypothesis. We find that FDI has a negative (crowding-out) effect on domestic entrepreneurship at below-threshold levels of institutional capacity, and a positive (crowding-in) effect at above-threshold levels of institutional capacity. The crowding-out effect diminishes as the institutional capacity changes or improves to meet mutating economic environment conditions. Our findings are robust across a wide range of aggregate and disaggregate measures of different types of institutions and alternative empirical strategies.     

Modes of Foreign Direct Investment and Patterns of Trade: An Alternative Empirical Approach

Modes of FDI can be clarified by analysing the changing patterns of trade among host, home and third countries. However, most empirical experiments of foreign direct investment (FDI) determinants have been confined to general characteristics of host countries and multinational enterprises' outward investment activities. This may not clearly characterise the specific characteristics of inward FDI in regard to the host country. Thus, we introduce an alternative approach to clarify modes of FDI by investigating the link between patterns of trade and inward FDI. To empirically test whether our approach is applicable, we choose China during the period 1998–2007. We construct a modified gravity equation of bilateral trade while considering spatially lagged interdependence between host, home and third countries. The problem of endogeneity is controlled by applying the system generalised method of moments (GMM) estimation technique. Our findings are consistent with results in existing studies on modes of outward FDI to China and prove that our approach in dealing with the link between patterns of trade and inward FDI has wide applicability to all modes of FDI. We discover there is strong evidence for statistically significant complementarity between bilateral trade and inward FDI within the aggregate trade data. As we decompose the aggregate trade data into final and intermediate goods, we find the motivation concerning export‐platform and complex vertical FDI is very significant. In addition, as we separate the bilateral partners into developing partners and developed partners, we find both bilateral and multilateral linkages are much stronger with developing partners.     

外商直接投资与我国产业技术边缘化的实证研究

本文选取37个工业行业为对象,通过对1998-2003年的行业面板数据分析,对外商直接投资与我国产业技术边缘化的关系进行实证研究,并从行业吸收能力、技术密集度和技术差距三个维度探讨对FDI技术溢出影响的效果与程度。结果显示,行业的技术边缘化程度与FDI流入存在正相关关系;行业的吸收能力越弱、行业的技术密集度越高,FDI加剧技术边缘化的程度越大;技术差距的影响没有得到证实。进而指出,真正的技术追赶只能通过我国产业获得参与技术生成和技术改进的过程来实现,增强我国产业的技术吸收能力及自主创新力是打破高技术行业技术依赖的根本所在。     

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.     

我国对外直接投资的逆向技术外溢效应研究

本文选取我国对外直接投资比较集中且技术水平比较发达的九个国家(地区),利用我国和九国(地区)对外直接投资与技术创新的投入产出数据,测算我国的全要素生产率、母国和东道国的研发资本存量,实证分析了我国直接投资到这些国家(地区)所产生的逆向技术外溢程度。研究结果表明,我国通过对外直接投资渠道获得的国外研发资本存量能给母国带来正的技术外溢效应,只是由于我国对外直接投资相对吸引外资而言发展缓慢,因而其技术外溢效应相对较低。