Domestic Labor Markets and Foreign Direct Investment*

We study how the labor market and industry uncertainty affect the investment decisions of multinational enterprises (MNEs). In an uncertain business climate, MNEs must take account of the future in deciding where to locate a branch plant. When wages are endogenously determined, both the opportunity cost of labor and redundancy payments influence the MNE’s decision. When countries compete for foreign investment, different national characteristics determine the winners in different industries. Differences in risk may draw MNEs to different locations. Firm‐specific bargaining always offers an advantage, as the mix of current and future pay fully reflects the firm’s risk profile.     

Labor Training and Foreign Direct Investment

Evidence shows that most foreign direct investment (FDI) flows from developed to developed countries (North–North) in skilled labor‐intensive industries. This paper builds a model that incorporates labor training into the proximity–concentration tradeoffs to analyze the entry mode of multinationals to a foreign country. Production requires both skilled labor and unskilled labor.. A multinational pursuing FDI needs to provide training to some workers in the host country to equip them with skills that are specific to the production of the firm. Labor training and skill specificity lead to contract friction. It is shown that in skilled labor‐intensive industries, FDI increases along with the economic development level of the host country, whereas in unskilled labor‐intensive industries, the reverse is true. This paper provides a theoretical explanation for the empirical findings on the prevalence of North–North FDI in skilled labor‐industries and North–South FDI in unskilled labor‐intensive industries.     

Labor Taxation and Foreign Direct Investment*

In this paper, we analyze the implications of the effective taxation of labor for profits and, hence, the decisions made by multinational enterprises concerning the location of their headquarters. If a higher employee‐borne tax burden reduces manager effort, it should also negatively affect firm profits and the location of the headquarters. We compile data on personal income tax profiles for 52 economies and the year 2002 at different moments of the distribution of gross wages. Our findings suggest that higher employee‐borne labor taxes are less conducive to the location of headquarters and foreign direct investment stocks in a given host economy.     

对外直接投资与国内产业空心化

本文针对一些西方学者关于美国、日本对外直接投资导致国内产业“空心化”的观点,提出了不同的见解。首先, 第一、第二产业比重下降, 第三产业比重上升是一国产业结构演进的一般规律, 与对外直接投资无关; 其次, 一国的对外直接投资规模巨大与贸易逆差并无直接联系; 第三, 对外直接投资增强了投资者的国际竞争力; 第四, 对外直接投资对一国的就业机会影响甚微。总之, 对外直接投资为投资国和对外直接投资者带来巨大利益, 而不会导致国内产业“空心化     

Domestic R&D,Foreign Direct Investment and Welfare

This paper provides a new rationale to examine the two‐way relationship between domestic research and development (R&D) and foreign direct investment (FDI), as well as their impacts on domestic welfare. Our analysis is based on the strategic interaction in cost‐reducing investment decisions between domestic firms and a foreign firm, which is different from the common factors that are discussed in the literature such as spillovers and technology sourcing. Our results are as follows. We show that domestic R&D investment may either increase or decrease the foreign firm's FDI incentives. Further, depending on the marginal cost of domestic firms, domestic R&D incentives can always increase regardless of the effects of domestic R&D investment on the foreign firm's FDI decision. Finally, we find that domestic welfare improves under domestic cost reduction if the slope of the marginal cost of domestic R&D investment is sufficiently small.     

Foreign Direct Investment and Labor Quality in Developing Countries

The quality of local labor is an important factor in a multinational corporation's (MNC) decision to set up production operations in a developing country. It is often observed that developing country governments attempt to attract MNCs by enhancing labor quality. This paper studies the interaction between an MNC and a local government which has superior information on local labor quality. The local government has an incentive to enhance the labor quality and share that information with the MNC because it increases both its net tax revenue and profit of the MNC. The paper provides an explanation for recent findings of FDI in developing countries: the bulk of FDI has been directed toward a limited number of countries and human capital plays an increasingly important role in attracting FDI.     

Do Foreign Direct Investment and Gross Domestic Investment Promote Economic Growth?

The paper attempts to show causal relationships between economic growth and FDI and GDI in 80 countries over the period 1971–95, by using a panel VAR model. The results show that FDI Granger–causes economic growth, and vice versa; however, the effects are rather more apparent from growth to FDI than from FDI to growth. Also, GDI does not Granger–cause economic growth, but economic growth robustly Granger–causes GDI. These findings suggest that strong positive associations between economic growth and FDI inflows or GDI rates do not necessarily mean that high FDI inflows or GDI rates lead to rapid economic growth.     

Local Institutions,Foreign Direct Investment and Productivity of Domestic Firms

This paper examines the linkage between foreign direct investment (FDI) and the productivity of domestic firms, paying particular attention to local institutions. Using Chinese manufactures from 1998 to 2007, we find strong evidence that FDI negatively affects the productivity of domestic firms. Firm in regions with better institutions suffers more from foreign presence owing to production contraction, labor cost increases and innovation deterrence.     

对外直接投资对国内投资的影响——基于中国数据的协整分析

本文就对外直接投资对国内投资的影响问题进行了实证分析,通过协整检验,建立相应的计量模型,得到的结论是:中国对外直接投资对国内投资的替代系数为0.93,即相对于GDP规模,对外直接投资每增加1个百分点,则减少国内投资量0.93个百分点。中国对外直接投资的海外债务融资的杠杆效应以及吸引海外股权参与的程度还比较低,如果这两个方面有较大改善,则中国对外直接投资对国内投资的替代效应还将大大减小。     

论国内金融市场在“外商直接投资和经济增长”中的传导渠道

21世纪以来有关外商直接投资(FDI)文献着重论述了国内金融市场在“FDI和经济增长”中的作用,弥补了以往FDI文献的空白。在此基础上,文章认为,国内金融市场是通过资本形成、就业增加、技术实现和投资效率提高等渠道诱使FDI促进经济增长的。     

技术引入和技术学习——外资企业与内资企业技术空间博弈

外商直接投资对我国造成了怎样的影响?很多研究局限在总体正负外溢效应的争论上,很少有学者关注区域因素和企业行为对外商直接投资技术外溢效应的影响。本文借鉴Wang与Blomstrom的内生理论模型建立思路,把外商直接投资技术外溢放在一个相互作用的系统中,同时引入“距离”因素,更全面地分析外资企业的技术引入行为和内资企业的技术学习行为。     

Foreign Debt,Foreign Direct Investment and Volatility

We investigate how foreign debt and foreign direct investment (FDI) affect the growth and welfare of a stochastically growing small open economy. First, we find that foreign debt influences the growth of domestic wealth by lowering the cost of capital, while FDI affects the country's welfare by providing an additional source of permanent income. Second, a decline in domestic investment may improve domestic welfare as FDI replaces the gap. Even when the welfare deteriorates, its magnitude is mitigated, leaving more room for discretionary fiscal policy. Third, a fiscal policy aimed to stabilize domestic output fluctuations needs to be conducted not to crowd out the welfare benefit of FDI too much. Fourth, an economy with both types of foreign capital experiences wider welfare swings by external volatility shocks than the one with foreign debt alone, while the welfare effects from domestic volatility shocks are mitigated. The welfare effects of fiscal shocks are much smaller with both types of foreign capital. Lastly, the first-best labor income tax covers the government absorption by the labor's share of total output, and the capital income tax covers the rest. Investment is penalized or subsidized depending on the social marginal cost-gain differential.     

外商直接投资对浙江省内投资的挤入效应研究

本文建立了衡量挤入、挤出效应的计量模型，利用模型定量地讨论了外商直接投资（FDI）对浙江省国内投资的挤入、挤出效应，得到了外商直接投资对浙江省内投资存在挤入效应的结论，并分析了产生挤入效应的原因。     

外商直接投资对浙江省内投资的挤入效应研究

本文建立了衡量挤入、挤出效应的计量模型,利用模型定量地讨论了外商直接投资(FDI)对浙江省国内投资的挤入、挤出效应,得到了外商直接投资对浙江省内投资存在挤入效应的结论,并分析了产生挤入效应的原因.     

Foreign Direct Investment and Environmental Taxes

Abstract. This paper studies the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on environmental policy stringency in a two-country model with trade costs, where FDI could be unilateral and bilateral and both governments address local pollution through environmental taxes. We show that FDI does not give rise to ecological dumping because the host country has an incentive to shift rents away from the source country toward the host country. Environmental policy strategies and welfare effects are studied under the assumption that parameter values support FDI to be profitable.     

外商直接投资与金融创新

改革开放20多年以为，中国与世界经济一体化迅速加快，而外商直接投资已经成为中国经济快速增长的关键因素之一。外商直接投资促进了所有制结构多元化的变迁，对中国经济制度的市场化变革提供了持续的推动力。虽然我国金融市场化改革取得了很大成就，但是金融结构和金融制度安排并没有发生实质性的变化。随着中国加入WTO，外商直接投资的深度与广度将得到很大发展，这将推动我国金融结构的金融制度安排和创新。     

Controlled Openness and Foreign Direct Investment

The paper investigates why a developing country may adopt a partial reform. A country is considered where the ruling elite (referred to as state capital) prevents the entry of foreign capital, and taxes the private sector before reform. A higher productivity of foreign capital always increases the attractiveness of a partial reform under which state capital can control the inflow of foreign capital, but can reduce the attractiveness of a full reform under which the entry of foreign capital is unregulated. Hence, state capital's control over foreign capital may be a necessary condition for the reform to take place at all.     

Foreign Direct Investment and Contract Enforcement

A long-standing deterrent to foreign direct investment in developing countries is weak enforcement of binding contracts. A local firm may learn business skills from a cooperating multinational firm and subsequently do business on its own based on the acquired skills. In a two-period, double-moral-hazard model, non-binding contracts are shown to be preferred by all parties, implying that contract enforcement is unnecessary. Our results shed light on the puzzling phenomenon that substantial FDI has been carried out under contractual arrangements in developing countries in which contract enforcement is problematic. They can also explain some interesting stylized facts on contractual joint ventures between multinationals and local firms in the early stage of an economic transition.J. Comp. Econom.,December 1998, 26(4), pp. 761–782. School of Business, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong; and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong.     

外商直接投资与国家自主创新

本文将FDI(外商直接投资)和LICENSIING(技术许可)作为其潜在的渠道,建立了技术引进的模型.此模型的一个重要特征是模型中的主要假设,模型的结论以及模型的政策意义都与实际经验的观察相一致.对于包括中国在内的发展中国家(LDC)而言,技术许可比外商直接投资所带来的技术外溢更有效,在考虑制定何种政策以达到社会福利的最优化时,人力资本的水平起到了决定性的作用.     

Regional Blocs and Foreign Direct Investment

The paper examines the impact of the emergence of regional blocs on the patterns of interbloc and intrabloc trade when firms have the option to engage in foreign direct investment (FDI). For exogenously given external tariffs, when firms have the option to engage in FDI, all interbloc trade may cease—complete trade diversion that is replaced by interbloc FDI investment creation. In such an event the volume of world trade declines but this is more than offset by the increase in world output due to direct investment. The paper also investigates the optimal tariff that a trading bloc levies on imports from nonmember countries. The tariffs are restricted by the option to engage in two‐way direct investment; hence, the regional blocs are hampered from mutually harming one another through an escalation in the tariff war. Finally, the formation of two regional blocs enhances the welfare of all countries.