Technology diffusion and host–country productivity in South-South FDI flows

This paper investigates the effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the host country's economic performance, namely, its total factor productivity (TFP). Such effects are often referred to as FDI externalities or spillover effects. In addition, the paper examines whether such spillover effects depend on the home country's income level. Our empirical findings indicate that FDI flows have positive effects on less developed countries (South countries), and that the effect of FDI flows from the developed countries (North countries) is stronger than that from less developed countries. That is, these results confirm the so-called North-South effects but provide no evidence of South-South effects. Furthermore, another channel of spillover effects is imports, which have significant effects on TFP.     

Trade effects of foreign direct investment: Evidence for Taiwan with four ASEAN countries

Trade Effects of Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence for Taiwan with Four ASEAN Countries. —This paper examines the trade effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) between Taiwan and each of the following four ASEAN countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand. Regression results show that Taiwan's outward FDI has a significant positive effect on exports to and imports from the host country, whereas no such effects were consistently found for inward FDI from the same country.     

Optimal Exit Costs of Foreign Direct Investment

This paper examines the optimal policy on exit costs of foreign direct investment for a host country considering the impact of varying income level and host country’s risk aversion against volatile FDI flows. Based on a dynamic model about the impact of the exit costs on FDI inflows and capital formation, we demonstrate that a host country should determine the exit cost considering two counterbalancing factors, that is, facilitating higher FDI inflows and reducing volatility of FDI inflows. When a host country is less vulnerable to volatility with inelastic risk aversion against FDI volatility, it is optimal for the host country with a negative income shock to take a more aggressive approach to induce FDI inflows by lowering exit costs. However, if the host country is more vulnerable to volatility with elastic risk aversion, the host country is advised to take a conservative approach by increasing exit costs to reduce FDI volatility. These findings, supported by the OECD data on 42 countries’ exits costs, implicate that developing countries are recommended to lower exit costs to induce higher FDI inflows when they are not highly vulnerable to volatility shocks.     

Are Investment Promotion Agencies Effective in Promoting Outward Foreign Direct Investment? The Cases of Japan and Korea

In this paper we examine the role of investment promotion agencies (IPA) in promoting outward foreign direct investment (FDI) from Japan and Korea. Looking at two home countries enables us to control for both country‐pair time‐invariant characteristics and host‐country time‐varying characteristics. Our empirical results suggest that home‐country IPA tend to be more effective in promoting outward FDI in politically risky host countries. However, this finding depends on whether the home‐country firm is listed or unlisted. More specifically, we find that the positive effect of home‐country IPA on outward FDI in politically risky countries is limited to unlisted home‐country firms, which tend to be less productive.     

FDI and the relevance of spatial linkages: do third-country effects matter for Dutch FDI?

The aim of this paper is to test for the relevance of spatial linkages for Dutch (outbound) foreign direct investment (FDI). We estimate a spatial lag model for Dutch FDI to 18 host countries. After controlling for fixed effects, we find for our sample period 1984–2004 that third-country effects matter. Apart from our benchmark spatial lag model, we also estimate various alternative models by looking at European host FDI countries only, by dividing FDI into industry and services FDI, and by estimating a spatial error model.

Heterogeneous effects of bilateral investment treaties

Bilateral investment treaties (BITs) are an increasingly used policy instrument to encourage FDI inflows, particularly inflows into developing countries. In this paper we estimate a gravity model of FDI flows from a sample of OECD countries to a broader sample of developing economies, examining the impact of BITs on these flows. BITs are signed between highly heterogeneous country-pairs, with important differences found in terms of the institutional and economic distance between BIT signatories. These differences may help explain the mixed results on the effects of BITs on FDI flows in the existing literature, with our exploration of non-linearities in this relationship suggesting that the effects of BITs are increasing in the difference in GDP and GDP per capita between source and host. BITs appear to have no impact upon FDI flows for country-pairs that are too dissimilar in terms of the strength of their political institutions.     

China's outward foreign direct investment in the Belt and Road Initiative: What are the motives for Chinese firms to invest?

Because of the potentially large and important effects of the extremely ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) launched by China in late 2013, considerable attention has been given to the motives for, and repercussions of, the BRI-driven infrastructural projects. Yet, the non-infrastructural outward foreign direct investment (FDI) from China to BRI countries, which varies quite substantially across different sectors and different countries, has not yet received much attention. In contrast to some recent studies showing that the massive initiative has increased China's total FDI outflows to fellow BRI countries, in this paper, based on our sector-level difference-in-differences models, we find that effect to be statistically insignificant. Yet, at the same time, we provide empirical evidence on the sectoral pattern of China's outward FDI before and after 2014 indicating that China's FDI outflows to BRI countries have significantly increased in sectors characterized by overcapacity and contributing to pollution in China, thereby demonstrating that China's BRI-driven outward FDI has been very selective in terms of sectors. We confirm these findings with a variety of robustness checks and show that it is BRI countries with relatively low institutional quality that have been more likely to receive these types of FDI from China. We thus speculate that Chinese firms have been motivated to place FDI investments in BRI countries for the sake of alleviating China's own overcapacity and pollution problems. Our findings lead us to suggest that, although these sectoral patterns are consistent with the different stages of economic development in which China and its fellow BRI-identified countries find themselves, Chinese investors and host country governments should be more concerned with the potential for unwanted side-effects of the FDI investments so that the mutually beneficial effects of the BRI can be sustained into the indefinite future among all countries involved.     

Dynamic relationship between China's inward and outward foreign direct investments

This paper studies the dynamic relationship of China's inward and outward foreign direct investments (FDI). It first identifies the key determinants of China's outward FDI (OFDI) in 172 host countries during 2003–2009 using a partial stock adjustment model. It finds strong evidence of dynamic adjustment in China's OFDI stock with an agglomeration effect. The dynamic adjustment and agglomeration effects are stronger in “high-tech” countries than in “low-tech” ones but indifferent in host country's resource endowments and income levels. The empirical results suggest that there exists a substantial adjustment cost in China's OFDI and that China's existing OFDI stock can gradually adjust toward its long-term equilibrium level, which is not only greater but also more volatile than the actual stock. Of particular interest is that we find a strong and positive relationship between lagged inward FDI (IFDI) and contemporaneous OFDI, implying that capital outflow from China has been partially induced by the countries which have invested in China.     

Foreign Direct Investment and Inflation

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are able to shift investments between home and host countries to minimize the negative effects of changes in the macroeconomic environment. This article formalizes a model that allows studying this investment‐smoothing behavior of MNEs facing inflation taxes in both the home and the host country. The MNE is allowed to invest in two economies, home and host, and to finance its foreign direct investment (FDI) either through domestic or foreign sources. The investment smoothing by the MNE is studied for cases of both vertical and horizontal FDI. The results suggest FDI is used as a hedging tool, mitigating the effects of inflation taxes even if there are no formal hedging mechanisms. The investment‐smoothing reaction of MNEs depends on the reason for investment, the financing sources of FDI, and the substitutability between factors of production. Finally, this investment‐smoothing possibility (FDI) reduces the real negative effects of inflation.     

Supply chain trade and technological transfer in the ASEAN + 3 region

This paper analyses how economic integration and the international division of labour have evolved among the ASEAN + 3 countries in the last 20 years. The paper proposes an indicator of the level of technological sophistication based on revealed comparative advantages and uses it to investigate the relation between technological advance, factor endowments and supply chain trade. It is shown that supply chain-trade does not facilitate technological transfer. On the contrary: FDI appears to have significant and negative spill-over effects on technological change. Positive spill-overs from FDI materialize only when host countries have sufficiently high levels of education.     

吸收能力和贸易政策对FDI技术溢出的影响分析——基于中国工业部门面板数据的实证研究

FDI的技术溢出不是自发产生的,溢出效应受到东道国国内的政策和经济环境的影响,其中两个重要因素是东道国的吸收能力和贸易政策。本文利用工业部门2005—2008年的数据,实证分析了FDI溢出效应。在考虑了前向联系和后向联系中的直接影响和间接影响情况下,检验了FDI横向溢出和纵向溢出,分析了吸收能力和贸易政策对FDI溢出效应的影响。我国的横向溢出和后向溢出不显著,前向溢出显著;吸收能力和贸易政策对外商在华投资的溢出效应产生不利影响。

Abstract：

FDI spillovers are assumed not to be automatic but are hypothesized as being a function of the domestic policies and economic environment in host countries.Two determinants have been generally recognized,the absorptive capability and the trade policy.This paper examines FDI spillovers using the industrial data during the period 2005—2008.Taking the direct and indi-rect effect into forward and backward linkages,both horizontal and vertical FDI spillovers are examined,and the effect of the absorptive capability and the trade policy on FDI spillovers are analyzed.The results show that the spillovers through horizontal spillovers and backward link-ages are insignificant,while positive spillovers through forward linkages are statistically significant.Absorptive capability and trade policy produce unfavorable effects on FDI spillovers.     

Impact of international development aid on FDI along the Belt and Road

Both IDA and FDI are very important external financing channels for B&R countries. Considering B&R countries as the sample, this paper analyzes the impact of the IDA received by B&R countries on their FDI from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. Based on the different research objectives and data availability, the empirical analysis is considered as two sections. In the time series analysis, we use VECM model and the impulse response function to test the dynamic effects of different types of IDA on the FDI from the perspective of donor countries, and find that whether in the short, medium or long term, the complementary factor form of the aid to the recipient countries can promote FDI, and the material capital form of the aid to the recipient countries can crowd out their FDI. In the panel regression analysis, we examine the overall impact of the total amount of IDA accepted by the B&R recipient countries on FDI, including the direct impact of IDA on FDI and the moderating effects of institutional environment. Considering the direct impact, the results of the fixed effect regression analysis confirm the significantly negative effects of total IDA accepted by B&R recipient countries on their FDI. In the regression analysis of controlling endogeneity problem, the product terms of IDA variables and institutional environment variables are added to the regression models, and the results show that the institutional environment has significantly positive moderating effects in the process of IDA influencing FDI, indicating that the interaction between IDA and institutional environment helps to improve the impact of IDA on FDI and increase the attractiveness of recipient countries to FDI.     

Exporting versus Direct Investment under Local Sourcing

This paper examines a setting where foreign direct investment (FDI) shifts demand for an intermediate good from the source to the host country. A domestic and a foreign firm choose between exports or FDI, always sourcing the intermediate locally. We show that by increasing the price of the intermediate, outward FDI can act as a cost-raising strategy for a firm and that attracting FDI can raise host country welfare. Two-way FDI is the equilibrium when the countries have similar market sizes. However, such FDI reduces global welfare relative to two-way exporting since it eliminates indirect competition between suppliers. JEL no. F12, F13, F23, L13     

Bilateral investment treaties as deterrents of host-country discretion: the impact of investor-state disputes on foreign direct investment in developing countries

The recent boom of investor-state disputes filed under international investment agreements has fueled a controversial academic and policy debate. We study the impact of these compensation claims on foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to the responding host country. Our econometric analysis focuses on differences in the FDI response from BIT-partner and non-partner countries of developing host countries. This approach allows us not only to distinguish competing hypotheses about BIT function, but also to address endogeneity concerns in earlier studies. We find that BITs stimulate bilateral FDI flows from partner countries—but only so long as the developing host country has not had a claim brought against it to arbitration. Our results provide an additional explanation for the policy-changes observed in many states subsequent to their first experience of an investor-state dispute.     

Effects on China and ASEAN of the ASEAN-China FTA: The FDI perspective

The ASEAN-China FTA (ACFTA) is a significant step in regional economic integration for both China and the ASEAN countries. While analysis of the effects of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) most commonly focuses on the trade effects, the closeness of the link between trade and investment implies that the effect of an FTA on foreign direct investment (FDI) is also potentially significant. FTAs may stimulate FDI through the effects of market expansion and vertical fragmentation, while they may also reduce FDI through a plant rationalization effect. The overall effect of an FTA on FDI flows is an empirical question. This paper examines the impact of ACFTA on FDI flows through an econometric model that captures the influence of East Asian production networks on FDI, which we expect to be an important explanatory factor. The model finds that ACFTA has a significant and positive effect on FDI flows. A brief survey of the theoretical literature on the welfare and other related effects of FDI serves to emphasize that the extent to which individual member countries of the ACFTA will benefit from this increase in FDI will depend in important ways on the policies pursued in each country.     

知识产权保护与南北技术扩散

本文将知识产权保护对跨国公司进入策略的影响纳入南北技术扩散的两阶段博弈模型,分析了南方国家为获得更多技术溢出而进行的知识产权保护的政策选择。认为南方国家最优知识产权保护力度应为刚够吸引FDI的程度,任何加强保护的措施将增加南方国家企业的成本,从而降低南方国家企业的利润,并损害消费者福利。通过进一步分析知识产权保护的影响因素发现,通过关税和知识产权保护制度的组合政策可以吸引FDI进入对南方国家溢出效应较好的产业。     

基于协整与脉冲响应函数的FDI溢出效应分析――以长三角制造业为例

外商直接投资（FDI）影响东道国的经济增长和产业发展,但国家或地区不同,FDI的溢出效应大小也不一样,有的甚至出现负效应。本文通过脉冲响应函数的实证分析证实了FDI在长三角制造业的正向溢出。     

Dynamic Linkages between FDI Inflows and Domestic Investment: A Panel Cointegration Approach

This paper analyzes the dynamic relationship between FDI inflows and domestic investment for a panel of selected countries by means of panel cointegration and causality techniques. Specifically, the paper provides empirical evidence regarding the existence of possible crowding in or crowding out effects between FDI inflows and domestic investment, accounting for the location and the level of development of the host countries.The paper was presented at the International Atlantic Economic Conference in London, March 9–13, 2005. The authors wish to thank the participants of the Macroeconomic Topics session for their valuable comments on an earlier draft. We would also like to express our gratitude to G. Chortareas and G. Konteos for helpful comments and suggestions. Nevertheless, the usual disclaimer applies.     

Foreign Direct Investment and Income Inequality in Southeast Asia: a Panel Unit Root and Panel Cointegration Analysis, 1990–2013

This paper examines the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and income distribution in the host country as measured by the Gini coefficient. After providing some background and reviewing the extant literature, it undertakes a panel unit root and cointegration analysis that tests whether FDI has a non-linear impact on income inequality in seven selected Southeast Asian countries over the period 1990 to 2013. The paper finds strong evidence for panel cointegration using the Pedroni Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) and Phillips-Perron (PP) tests. Thus, it proceeds to utilize the group-mean fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) procedure to generate long-run estimates that are unbiased and consistent. The FMOLS estimator is also extremely accurate even in panels with very heterogeneous serial correlation dynamics, fixed effects, and endogenous regressors. The results confirm the hypothesis that FDI inflows tend to raise income inequality in the short run but reduce it in the long run. In this study, the Gini index starts decreasing after FDI inflows as a percentage of GDP reaches 5.6. The fact that the Gini coefficient reaches its maximum at a relatively low level of FDI inflows suggests that sample countries are endowed with substantial absorptive capacity. In other words, they will shift into the new technological paradigm quickly, thus supporting pro-globalization claims that, on balance, FDI is more beneficial than harmful.     

跨国公司FDI和产业升级：来自广东和江苏比较研究

本文从外资的资本供给和技术外溢的角度来分析外商直接投资促进东道国经济增长并进而促进产业结构升级作用机理,在此基础上利用广东和江苏的数据进行了实证研究。结果表明：（1）FDI和产业升级存在较大相关性,但广东FDI对产业的直接推动作用比较好,而江苏省主要集中在第二产业,对第一、三产业,FDI并不存在直接的推动作用。（2）产业和FDI之间的相互作用表明在产业升级过程中确实存在跨国公司和东道国不断选择的过程,实际上就是ESP范式和OIL系统的不断协调过程。