Determinants of intra‐firm trade: Evidence from foreign affiliates in Sub‐Saharan Africa

By exploiting a unique sample of foreign affiliates in Sub‐Saharan Africa, we study previously examined and unexamined firm‐level determinants of intra‐firm trade. We document that foreign affiliates engaging in intra‐firm trade are relatively few and that the majority of these also engage in trade at arm's length, which accounts for an important fraction of their total trade. The identified firm‐level determinants of intra‐firm trade are consistent with property rights and intangible asset theories of the multinational firm, with international production hierarchy theories, as well as with theories of complex FDI and of multinational activity under credit constraints.     

Impact of foreign direct investments on economic growth in Africa: Evidence from three decades of panel data analyses

This paper examines the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on economic growth in Africa and presents estimations based on panel data of 50 African countries during the period from 1980 to 2009, and the system generalized method of moment (SYS-GMM) estimators as proposed by Blundell and Bond (1998). It finds that FDI inflows had a significant impact on economic growth in the African region during the period of interest. It also finds that while the low level of human resources did not limit the impact of FDI, and that the impact of FDI on economic growth was negative during the period from 1980 to 1994 and positive during the period from 1995 to 2009.     

Re‐entering Europe: Does European Union candidacy boost foreign direct investment?

This study examines the ability of the Central and Eastern European countries to attract foreign direct investment during the first decade of transition. After considering a model of profit maximizing firms, we undertake an empirical investigation of the factors that determine multinational firms’ location decisions within Europe. We find empirical support for the traditional market size and cost factors. In addition, we examine the effect of key European Union announcements regarding the accession process. Results indicate that the announcements had statistically significant and quantitatively important effects on foreign direct investment in the Central and Eastern European candidate countries.     

Institutional difference and foreign direct investment location choice: Evidence from China

Resting upon an extensive data set on foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) in China, we investigate the role of institutional difference in determining the locational choice of foreign direct investment (FDI). Estimation results using firm-level discrete choice model suggest that FIEs from source countries that are more remote institutionally from the Chinese mainland exhibit a higher degree of sensitivity to regional economic institutions in their choice of FDI location. Furthermore, we find that FIEs coming from countries with better institutions than China are more sensitive to the institutional difference. Interestingly, we find that the deterrent effect of institutional distance on FDI entry is mitigated for FIEs coming from countries with more ethnic Chinese individuals in their overall populations.     

Board gender quotas and outward foreign direct investment: Evidence from France

We show that board gender quota laws reduce the propensity of French firms to undertake outward foreign direct investment. For this, we use firm-level data for the period 2007 to 2015 and a difference-in-difference approach. The exogenous increase in the share of women directors decreases the share of foreign subsidiaries by 7 percentage points when the share of women directors is at its highest. The share of foreign subsidiaries is affected by the decrease in probability of having a foreign subsidiary, which indicates disinvestment. The effects on outward foreign direct investment we detect are strongest for the poorly managed firms, pointing to tough managerial monitoring by gender diverse boards as the driving force behind results.     

How foreign direct investment promote institutional quality: Evidence from Vietnam

Using a unique dataset from a provincial competitiveness survey and the rising foreign direct investment (FDI) from joining the World Trade Organization (WTO), I find that variations in economic institutions across the provinces of Vietnam are associated with the flow of foreign investment. To overcome endogeneity problems, I use the minimum distance from each province to a main economic centre as an instrument for foreign investment inflows. The instrumental variable approach shows that the direction of influence is from greater foreign investment to better institutions. These results hold after controlling for various additional covariates, and are also robust to various alternative measures of institutions. I also find that foreign direct investment has greater short-term impacts on institutional quality in the northern provinces.     

中国企业对外直接投资:优势、特点与问题

对外直接投资是我国“走出去”战略的重要组成部分,也是维护我国家经济安全,积极应对经济全球化带来的挑战,主动参与国际分工,利用好两种资源两个市场,规避国外贸易壁垒,吸收国外的先进技术和管理经验以及及时掌握外部信息的积极举措。近二十多年来,由于政府的支持和企业的努力,我国对外直接投资持续增长。据商务部统计,截止2003年底,我国对外直接投资企业累计7470家,投资金额114亿美元(据联合国贸发会议统计,中国累计对外投资金额近350亿美元,约相当于韩国的对外投资规模),目的地多达167个国家和地区。尽管如此,我国对对外直接投资的相关研…     

On the welfare effects of competition for foreign direct investments

This paper investigates welfare effects of subsidy competition for the location of a multinational enterprise. One of the competing regions benefits more from the inward investment but, in the absence of incentives, the multinational's preferred location is the other, more advanced region. The paper shows that subsidies, by making the multinational switch location, may increase aggregate welfare. If the multinational exports in the absence of incentives, the welfare effects of subsidy competition may look very different. Allowing subsidies attracts the direct investment, which otherwise would not take place, in one of the two regions. Further, it intensifies competition in the market. The paper shows that the welfare increasing role of incentives may be amplified, but also that the competition effect, by hurting domestic firms, may cancel out any other positive role of incentives.     

Determinants of Chinese direct investments in the European Union

This article analyses the determinants of Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) activities in the European Union (EU). Evidence is based on panel Poisson models drawing on two investment monitors at the individual project level. Greenfield investments (GI) and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are distinguished. The findings indicate that market size and bilateral trade are the main factors for Chinese investment in the EU. In contrast, business-friendly institutions do not foster FDI. Probably, Chinese investors are risk averse, and prefer regions with less competitive markets. The striking difference between GIs and M&As is related to unit labour costs. Higher costs make the host country less attractive for the establishment of new firms, but do not affect the involvement in existing firms. The sectoral dispersion of Chinese FDI in the EU did not change much since the global financial crisis. Most relevant shifts have occurred in research and development (R&D), where low-income EU countries have become increasingly attractive.     

Corporate Taxation and Productivity Catch‐Up: Evidence from European Firms

In this paper, we explore whether higher corporate tax rates, because they lower the after‐tax returns to productivity‐enhancing investments, reduce the speed with which small firms converge to the productivity frontier. Using data for 11 European countries, we find evidence that their productivity catch‐up is slower when the statutory corporate tax rates are higher. In contrast, we find that large firms are instead affected by effective marginal rates. Using the reduced‐form model of productivity convergence of Griffith et al . (2009, Journal of Regional Science 49 , 689–720), our results are robust to a host of robustness checks and a natural experiment that exploits the 2001 German tax reforms.     

利用外商投资推动我国自主创新

自去年"十一五规划"提出将自主创新作为国家发展战略以来,引起了社会各界广泛的深思,尤其是对我国实施"以市场换技术"战略的反思.甚至出现"以市场换技术失败论",认为"利用外资排斥自主创新".到底如何看待和评价FDI与自主创新的关系,决定着未来我国FDI的政策取向.     

Location decisions of non‐bank financial foreign direct investment: Firm‐level evidence from Europe

The non‐bank financial sector in Europe has more than doubled in size between 2005 and 2015 reflecting the substantial growth in shadow banking activities. However, a large proportion of the non‐bank financial sector that remains unmapped as granular balance sheet information is not available for over half of the sector. Motivated by these data gaps and employing firm‐level data, this paper examines the location decisions of newly incorporated foreign affiliates in the non‐bank financial sector across 27 European countries over the period 2004 to 2012. The probability of a country being chosen as the location for a new foreign affiliate is found to be negatively associated with higher corporate tax rates and geographic distance but increases with the size and financial development of the host country. The financial regulatory regime in the host country and gravity related controls such as the home and host country sharing a common legal system, language, border, and currency are also found to impact the likelihood of non‐bank financial FDI.     

Tax competition for foreign direct investments and the nature of the incumbent firm

We investigate tax/subsidy competition for foreign direct investments (FDI) between countries of different size when a domestic firm is the incumbent in the largest market and we study how the nature (public or private) of the incumbent firm affects policy competition. We show that, differently from the case of a private firm, the country hosting the incumbent always benefits from FDI if the domestic firm is a public welfare‐maximizing firm. We also show that the public firm acts as a disciplinary device for the foreign multinational that will always choose the efficient welfare‐maximizing location. An efficiency‐enhancing role of policy competition may then arise only when the domestic incumbent is a private firm, whereas tax competition is always wasteful in the presence of a public firm.     

The impact of foreign direct investment on innovation at domestic firms: Evidence from the deregulation of foreign investment in China

This paper studies the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on innovation by domestic firms in China. A difference-in-difference estimation strategy yields causal evidence by exploiting China's deregulation of FDI in 2002. Analysis of a matched firm–patent data set from 1998 to 2007 shows that both the quantity and quality of innovation by domestic firms benefited from the presence of FDI. Emphasizing the importance of knowledge spillover from FDI in similar technology domains, the authors examine the role of horizontal FDI and FDI in technologically close industries—those sharing similar technology domains. Findings show that the latter generates much more substantial positive spillover than the former. The paper also shows that knowledge spillover from FDI in similar technology domains is not driven by input–output linkages. In addition, the spillover effect is stronger in cities with higher human capital stock and firms with higher absorptive capacity.     

构建地方政府利用外资的科学机制

改革开放以来,地方政府通过利用外资推动了区域经济发展,但在传统的发展观和政绩考核体系下形成的以行政区经济增长为单一诉求的利用外资机制,既因区域间恶性竞争造成了高昂的成本,也导致了重复建设和区域产业结构雷同,利用外资的效应未能最大化.地方政府应以科学发展观为指导,在新的政绩考核体系下构建以区域经济和社会综合发展为导向的科学机制,以提高利用外资的水平和质量.     

日韩在华直接投资:现状与对策

随着世界经济一体化和跨国公规模化的不断发展,以控制国外业所有权为目的,主要采取独资,资,合作以及收购或兼并国外企等形式开展的对外直接投资已经为世界各国对外投资的一种主要式。由于地理位置原因,日本和韩均是对华投资规模较大的国家,几年来投资规模不断扩大,已跻对华投资的前列。据商务部统计,003年日本对华投资额达50.54亿元,韩国为44.89亿美元。仅次于国香港(177.00亿美元)和维尔京岛(57.77亿美元)。2004年1—10,日本对华实际投资额为47.15美元,而韩国对华实际投资额更达58.67亿美元,其投资金额首超过日本,达到历史最高水平,成在华…     

影响外商直接投资规模和效应的制度因素

关于外商直接投资(FDI)与制度之间的关系问题,很早就受到了我国学者的重视.但是,现有的研究成果大多都侧重于FDI对中国制度变迁的影响,而反过来从制度因素影响FDI的进入和利用效应这个角度进行研究的成果却不多见.现在,对FDI的讨论主要集中在"规模是否过大"和"如何认识与规避负效应"两个方面,本文试图从导致FDI大规模进入和产生一些负效应的制度因素入手,从独特的视角来分析这两方面的热点问题.从而对我国利用FDI的规模和产生的负效应有更深刻的理解.     

日韩汽车产业利用外资的比较与借鉴

利用外资对一个国家,特别是后发国家在发展汽车产业中起着重要的作用,在很大程度上影响着一国汽车产业的发展进程和战略选择.     

跨国公司在华投资的战略调整及其影响

今年,中国的外贸进出口总额将突破6000亿美元,更由于实际使用外资金额超过500亿美元而成为本年度全球吸收外商直接投资最多的国家。在这其中,跨国公司的作用不可或缺。本期特别邀请南开大学跨国公司研究中心的四位博士生导师,从不同侧面解析跨国公司在其发展进程中的相关问题,敬请垂注。     

The impact of electricity prices on foreign direct investment: evidence from the European Union

We examine the impact of electricity price variation on net FDI (%GDP) inflows in countries of the European Union. We use panel data of 27 EU countries for a period of 2003 – 2013. We show that electricity prices of south-western and north-eastern EU countries did not converge to one price until now. Dynamic panel data analysis using system GMM shows that besides unit labour costs, tax rates and competitive disadvantage in secondary education, also higher electricity prices reduce countries’ ability to attract FDI. The immediate effects are statistically significant across both sub-regions analysed: in the short run, a 10% increase in electricity prices leads to a decrease in net FDI inflows as a share of GDP by 0.4 percentage points for the south-western and 0.33 for the north-eastern region. In the long run, the response is 0.60 percentage points for south-western and 0.48 for north-eastern regions. Policies should aim at reducing electricity market price differences on the European level through investment in transborder transmission capacity; reductions in FDI, when environmental policy increases after-tax electricity prices, should be countered by other tax reductions as well as harmonization of property rights, absence of corruption and labour market regulations at best-practice level.