Word Power: The Impact of Negative Media Coverage on Disciplining Corporate Pollution

Globalization is multifaceted and involves the interaction among businesses, services, governments, and societies beyond national borders. As a result, the flow of foreign direct investment (FDI), international trade in goods and services, and the economic interdependence of the nations of the world have been increasing. At the same time, much attention has been paid to the effect of corruption prevalent within many cultures and societies, and its impact on the economies, especially developing economies. This paper examines the relationship between human capital investment, the level of national corruption, and the global economic integration (GEI) of a nation in developing countries. Based on the data collected from over 60 countries, and building on the FDI and human capital theories, it was found that human capital investment and corruption are related to GEI. It was also found that the level of corruption moderates the relationship between human capital investment and GEI of developing economies. The findings of the study can help to deepen our understanding of GEI and have practical implications for developing countries in terms developing human capital, which plays a critical role in today’s knowledge-based economy.     

Information, incentives and multinational firms

I present a model that explains a multinational firm's choice of organizational form. If a firm in the developed country outsources the production of its intermediate goods to a supplier in the developing country, it faces an adverse selection problem. If it chooses to produce the intermediate goods in its own subsidiary in the developing country, it faces an inefficient monitoring problem. My analysis of this tradeoff provides a new explanation for the observation that FDI is concentrated in capital intensive industries and yields two empirical hypotheses: more firms should adopt outsourcing instead of FDI after trade liberalization; the share of intra-firm trade in total trade should be increasing in the degree of productivity dispersion across intermediate goods suppliers in the developing country.     

外商直接投资与发展中国家的人力资本发展

人力资本不仅仅影响一国内部经济增长,同时也和外部经济交往比如外商直接投资(FDI)存在互为补充的关系。FDI能够对东道国的人力资本发展起到重要作用,主要通过影响东道国的正规教育和在职培训提升东道国的人力资本水平;发展中国家要加大本国的教育投资;鼓励跨国公司的培训活动和实施吸引人才的制度;实现FDI、人力资本和技术外溢的良性循环。     

我国引进外商直接投资影响因素的实证分析

外商直接投资(FDI)是中国经济发展中不可忽视的力量,改革开放以来,我国利用外资从零起步,实现了快速发展,取得了长足的进步,外资已逐渐成为发展经济和推动中外经贸交流的重要手段。本文在总量分析的层面上,从定性和定量两个角度研究了我国经济中的各因素对外商直接投资的影响。本文认为,在分析我国引进外商直接投资的影响因素时,不应该只考虑到各种经济环境因素,同时也应考虑到政策因素的影响。     

To What Extent Can Foreign Direct Investment Help Achieve International Development Goals?

For FDI to help alleviate absolute poverty and stimulate economic growth in developing countries, two conditions have to be met. First, developing countries need to be attractive to foreign investors. Second, the host‐country environment in which foreign investors operate must be conducive to favourable FDI effects with regard to overall investment, economic spillovers and income growth. This paper argues that it is more difficult to benefit from FDI than to attract FDI. The widely perceived concentration of FDI in few developing countries tends to obscure that, in relative terms, various small and poor countries are fairly attractive to FDI. Yet, the mobilisation of domestic resources remains by far, more important than attracting FDI for financing investment and stimulating economic growth. Furthermore, high inward FDI is no guarantee for poverty alleviation and positive growth effects. In particular, the empirical evidence suggests that host‐country conditions typically prevailing in poor countries, including weak institutions and an insufficient endowment of complementary factors of production, constrain the growth‐enhancing and poverty‐alleviating effects of FDI. The crux is that creating an environment in which FDI may deliver social returns will take considerable time exactly where development needs are most pressing.     

Does foreign direct investment expand the capability set in the host economy? A sectoral analysis

Most empirical studies examining the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on economic development use aggregate monetary-based measures such as GDP or TFP growth as indicators for development. We deviate from this approach and use instead the recently developed economic complexity index; this measure summarises the complexity of the productive structure of an economy, and its values can be interpreted as the number of capabilities present in a country. These capabilities are units of productive knowledge necessary for the production of goods, and goods differ in the number of necessary capabilities. Furthermore, we use sectoral FDI data to take differences between sectors of an economy into account, since the number of necessary capabilities also varies between the sectors. In our empirical analysis, covering 63 developing and developed countries over the period 2005–14, we find that FDI in the tertiary sector has a statistically significant and robust positive effect on the number of capabilities, whereas FDI in the primary and secondary sectors generally does not increase the capability set of an economy.     

外商直接投资技术外溢吸收能力影响因素研究——基于中国29个地区面板数据分析

东道国的吸收能力是外商直接投资技术外溢实现的关键;文章论述了技术外溢的产生途径;对中国29个地区面板数据的平稳性进行检验,从东道国吸收能力的角度分析影响外商直接投资技术外溢的因素:人力资本、经济开放度、基础设施等。实证研究结果表明,高等教育和高中教育的人力资本、基础设施建设和外商直接投资相结合对技术外溢的吸收能力有正向作用,而对外贸易和初中、小学的人力资本尚未构成对外商直接投资技术外溢的促进作用。     

Outward foreign investment and export structure: a case study of Taiwan's FDI in Malaysia

As Taiwan's outward FDI was primarily motivated by the relatively lower costs of land and labour in the host countries, one tends to expect that the structure of production and exports in Taiwan would shift toward higher capital and skill intensity. The structure of Taiwan's exports to the ASEAN-4 was concentrated more in higher human and physical capital intensities than Taiwan's total exports to the world. Moreover, Taiwan's exports to the ASEAN-4 were more concentrated on intermediate goods and machinery. A case study of Taiwan's outward FDI in Malaysia indicated that three of the five leading industries that accounted for a large shares of changes on FDI stocks and corresponding export commodities were the same. Pooling estimates also show that FDI has a small but positive impact on Taiwan's exports to the host country. The study further showed that Taiwan's FDI in Malaysia includes mixed tactics of ‘defensive’ and ‘aggressive’ strategies in various industries. In terms of the influence of the presence and economic role of ethnic Chinese on Taiwan's outward FDI, the study showed that the ‘Chinese connection’ has not been a significant factor in determining the industrial distribution of Taiwan's FDI in Malaysia.     

基于VAR模型对中国经济增长因数的实证分析

新经济增长理论的“内生增长”理论提出了技术对经济增长的重要性,作为发展中国家的中国,获得外部技术来源是在当前产品生命周期日益缩短的形势下发展经济的捷径,而FDI正是外部技术来源的最好的载体。本文在理论综述的基础上,针对国内外学者对FDI研究的新思路即FDI技术溢出的“门槛效应”,通过VAR模型基于Johansen协整分析、格兰杰因果检验、向量误差修正模型和方差分解的方法对中国的国内生产总值GDP、未与人力资本结合的FDI的技术溢出FG和与人力资本结合的FDI的技术溢出HG的对数的关系进行了实证研究,来分析与人力资本结合的FDI的技术溢出和未与人力资本结合的FDI的技术溢出对经济增长的作用,并针对实证分析的结果提出了相应的对策建议。     

The impact of FDI in land in agriculture in developing countries on host country food security

We investigate the influence of FDI in land in agriculture in developing countries, a phenomenon also known as land grabbing, on host country food security, and suggest a differential impact depending on the investor’s country of origin. FDI in land by developed-country investors positively influence food security by expanding land used for crop production because of home institutional pressure for human rights respect and responsible farmland conduct, in addition to positive spillovers. Instead, FDI in land by developing-country investors negatively influence food security by decreasing cropland due to home institutional pressure to align to national interests and government policy objectives, in addition to negative spillovers.     

我国进出口商品结构与对外直接投资的相关性研究──基于VAR模型的分析框架

本文以我国1982-2007年的相关数据为样本,基于VAR模型的分析框架实证研究了我国进出口商品结构与对外直接投资的相关性。结果表明:进出口商品结构与对外直接投资存在长期均衡关系,其中初级产品出口、工业制成品出口分别与对外直接投资存在相互替代效应,初级产品进口、工业制成品出口分别与对外直接投资存在相互补充效应;进出口商品结构中各变量与对外直接投资均不存在短期因果关系,但共同构成了影响对外直接投资变化的短期因素。     

谈进口资本品的双重效应与技术进步——基于2001-2009年中国省际面板数据分析

利用我国27个省市区2001—2009年的面板数据,采用动态面板数据模型分析方法,对进口资本品影响技术进步的双重效应、滞后效应与间接效应进行实证分析。结果显示,进口资本品对TFP的影响具有双重效应,进口资本品与TFP呈倒"U"型关系;在研究样本期内,进口资本品对TFP的负面影响占主导地位,其数量已超过最优值,此时再增加资本品进口会导致TFP下降。滞后一期的进口资本品能够促进技术进步。进口资本品还通过人力资本、FDI等间接渠道对技术进步产生积极影响。     

Exchange Rates and FDI: Goods versus Capital Market Frictions

Changes in exchange rates affect countries through their impact on cross‐border activities such as trade and foreign direct investment (FDI). With increasing activities of multinational firms, the FDI channel is likely to gain in importance. Economic theory provides two main explanations why changes in exchange rates can affect FDI. According to the first explanation, FDI reacts to exchange rate changes if there are information frictions on capital markets and if investment depends on firms’ net worth (capital market friction hypothesis). According to the second explanation, FDI reacts to exchange rate changes if output and factor markets are segmented, and if firm‐specific assets are important (goods market friction hypothesis). We provide a unified theoretical framework of these two explanations. We analyse the implications of the model empirically using a dataset based on detailed German firm‐level data. We find greater support for the goods market than for the capital market friction hypothesis.     

Paraguay

Summary

Nations with low per-capita GDP may find themselves in a “poverty trap,” a vicious circle in which low income leads to low savings and investment. Similarly, if production depends in part on the level of infrastructure, a poverty trap can arise in which low infrastructure leads to low investment and income. Foreign direct investment can help break this cycle by increasing capital accumulation without causing consumption to drop. Paraguay is examined as a prototypical low income country, with stagnant GDP growth over the past twenty years. Employing a model first proposed by Figueroa (1998), FDI is prescribed as the remedy for the ill of low output.     

外国直接投资与中国人力资本成长的实证分析——以“长三角”为例

文章从人力资本存量水平和人力资本效率水平两个角度,以“长三角”地区为案例,集中探讨了外商直接投资对我国人力资本成长的影响。研究资料显示,“长三角”地区外国直接投资每增加1%,该地区平均实际工资水平将增加0.31%。另一方面,从“长三角”地区近年来有外国直接投资支撑的制造业的劳动生产率的变化来看,同其它较少外国直接投资或者无外国直接投资支撑的行业相比,其人力资本效率水平一直保持在相对较高的水平上。“长三角”地区人力资本成长的政策含义是,今后外国直接投资的引进应当在遵循比较优势和要素自由流动的原则基础上,尽可能地与我国产业结构乃至就业结构的调整方向保持一致,而盲目追求外国直接投资的数量规模则是有害的。     

The saving rate and the upgrade of the trade commodity structure in developing countries: A dynamic H–O model under an oligopolistic market structure

This paper constructs an oligopolistic dynamic Heckscher–Ohlin (H–O) model of a small open economy to analyze the relationship between the saving rate and the upgrade of the trade commodity structure. The analysis shows that the saving rate determines the trade commodity structure of a country in the long-run equilibrium. Furthermore, a developing country with a low capital–labor ratio in the initial state will change from exporting labor-intensive goods in the initial state to exporting capital-intensive goods in the long-run equilibrium if it has a higher saving rate, and this upgrade of trade commodity structure has a social welfare effect under an oligopolistic market structure. The effect of trade policy on the upgrade of the trade commodity structure is uncertain in our model; therefore, a high saving rate is the irreplaceable driving force for trade commodity structure upgrades in developing countries.     

外资对中国经济的影响:基于来源地差异视角

文章在经济增长理论模型的基础上纳入不同来源地的外资,发现外商直接投资不仅与国内资本异质,而且其内部因来源地不同也存在着差异。这种异质性不仅体现在其对中国经济增长的影响上,而且还体现在对技术进步、人力资本等的外溢效应上。来源于港澳台地区的华资对中国经济增长的促进作用在所有外资中最大,而来源于美国和欧盟国家的外资的作用较小。     

Economic and Political Determinants of the Effects of FDI on Growth in Transition and Developing Countries

This study investigates the role of human capital and political development in determining the magnitude of the effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) on growth for a panel of 61 transition and developing countries for the period 1989 to 2013. A baseline growth model incorporating these variables is tested and then extended to include FDI interaction effects with human capital (measured using secondary school enrollment data) and political development (based on Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index scores). These growth interaction effects between FDI and human capital vary according to regime type. Political development in conjunction with FDI appears to suppress the effects of FDI on growth in authoritarian countries while enhancing them in hybrid democracies. For more democratic countries, domestic investment is a more important driver of growth. The effects of FDI on growth in the ten transition economies included in the sample data set are found to be insignificant. Although this result might seem to differ from a priori expectations, it is in line with the findings of most earlier studies that cover the period up to 2004. The paper also provides no strong evidence that a critical threshold of human capital is required to generate beneficial spillover growth effects from inflows of FDI. The paper provides new and more detailed insights into the effects of FDI on growth with particular respect to human capital and political regime covering a large number of transition and developing countries based on an up‐to‐date data set covering a 25‐year period to 2013. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

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.     

Intra-industry trade and heterogeneity in pollution emission

This paper develops a model of intermediate goods firms heterogeneity with respect to a pollution parameter to analyze the effects of intra-industry trade on final good output, pollution and welfare. By focusing on intra-industry trade we consider trade between similar countries. We analyze both trade between developed countries, and trade between developing countries. In our model, final good producers pay an environmental tax on the total pollution emitted in their country. Therefore, final good producers determine the overall level of pollution by demanding ‘cleaner’ or ‘dirtier’ intermediate goods. To focus on intra-industry trade we consider only intermediate goods firms trade. We analyze three scenarios: closed economy; open economy with no impediments to trade; and open economy with transportation cost. Our main findings are: i. a developing country closed to trade faces lower final good output and higher total pollution and is thus worse off than a developed country; ii. countries are better off under trade than under autarky, regardless of their development level; and iii. an open economy with low transportation costs are better off than an open economy with no impediments to trade.