Foreign Direct Investment,Institutional Quality,and Financial Development along the Belt and Road: An Empirical Investigation

ABSTRACT

The source of financial development is less investigated in the literature, especially the role foreign direct investment (FDI) plays on financial development. Using data from 50 countries joining the Belt and Road Initiative, this article at first time tests the impact of FDI on financial development in a host country. Empirical results show that FDI can significantly improve the development of financial sector, especially the development of financial markets. FDI is found to be a stronger driver of financial development for countries with higher quality institutions. Moreover, FDI not only increases financial deepening, but also enhances financial function.     

Foreign Banks: Trends and Impact

Over the past two decades, foreign banks have become much more important in domestic financial intermediation, heightening the need to understand their behavior. We introduce a new, comprehensive database, made publicly available, on bank ownership (including the home country of foreign banks) for 5,324 banks in 137 countries over the period 1995–2009. We document large increases in foreign bank presence in many countries, but with substantial heterogeneity in terms of host and banks’ home countries, bilateral investment patterns, and bank characteristics. In terms of impact, we document that the relation between private credit and foreign bank presence importantly depends on host country and banks’ characteristics. Specifically, foreign banks only seem to have a negative impact on credit in low‐income countries, in countries where they have a limited market share, where enforcing contracts is costly and where credit information is limited available, and when they come from distant home countries. This shows that accounting for heterogeneity, including bilateral ownership, is crucial to better understand the implications of foreign bank ownership.     

地方金融发展能够影响FDI的区位选择吗?——一个基于城市商业银行设立的准自然实验

本文以城市商业银行的设立为自然实验,结合1990-2015年中国295个地级市数据以及成立的184家城市商业银行,运用双重差分方法系统考察了地方金融机构对FDI区位选择的影响。研究表明,城市商业银行的成立显著促进了城市FDI的流入;经过一系列稳健性检验和进行倾向得分匹配(PSM)估计之后,这一结论依然成立。结合企业数据证实城商行的设立提升了企业从银行获得贷款的可能性,能够通过缓解企业融资约束而影响FDI的区位分布。对城商行兼并和异地扩张行为的进一步分析表明:城商行经营规模的扩张,无论是对属地还是异地城市FDI的促进作用均不明显,而城商行资金规模的扩张对FDI有明显促进作用。这些发现将为我国完善金融体系和升级银行业结构、吸引FDI促进区域经济协调发展提供理论和经验支持。     

Financial literacy and voluntary savings for retirement: novel causal evidence

ABSTRACT

We utilise recent Household Finance and Consumption Survey microdata to report first causal effects of financial literacy on voluntary private pension schemes participation for a Central and Eastern European (CEE) country, namely Slovakia. Savings for retirement in the supplementary pension schemes are positively associated with financial literacy after controlling for a set of relevant socio-economic variables. One additional correctly answered financial literacy question leads to a 5.6 percentage points increase in the probability of having a voluntary pension savings plan in our ordinary least squares estimates. The causal impact of financial literacy increases to 19.5 percentage points when we address potential endogeneity problems by novel to the literature instrumental variables.     

Financial Cooperative Potential Between China and Belt and Road Countries

ABSTRACT

Along with the increasingly frequent economic exchanges between China and the Belt and Road countries (BRCs), bilateral and multilateral financial integration within the region has become a current trend. This article quantifies the level of cooperative potential by designing an index based on the investment demand in China and the financing needs of the BRCs. Using this index, this article analyzes the distribution of the financial cooperative potential among the BRCs and uncovers its influencing factors. The statistical findings are that countries with higher financial cooperative potential have closer economic ties with China. These countries are mostly low-income or middle-income countries with a shortage of infrastructure investment, while their economic development is stable. The research results provide guidance for the overseas strategic layout of the Chinese financial institutions. More funds should be injected into China’s trade and investment counterparts that have stable economic growth and a strong demand for infrastructure investment, such as countries in Northeast, Central, and Southeast Asia.     

Financial factors in foreign direct investments: A dynamic analysis of international data

In contrast to existing empirical foreign direct investment (FDI) studies that examine the static effects of strategic or real economic variables, this paper focuses on the impacts of financial variables on FDI outflows for four largest industrial countries using dynamic time series methods. The results show that FDI outflows are non-stationary but have a long-run cointegrating relationship with real exchange rates. In addition, there are causal effects of exchange rates on direct investments in the short run. Multivariate cointegration analysis shows the significance of financial channels such as cost of capital and real wealth through which the real exchange rate effects operate. The effects of financial channels are comparable to those of the real wage rate channel. Overall, the present paper provides significant and methodologically consistent international evidence for dynamic interactions between FDIs and financial variables.     

金融控股公司及其在我国的立法制度构想

目前,我国在金融机构或普通工商企业基础上形成的两类“准金融控股公司”,存在无法可依、实业资本与金融资本相互控制、组建随意、监管缺失、经营无序等混乱现象。为此,迫切需要加强金融控股公司的立法,以促进金融控股公司的风险监管,提高金融效益,保障存款人、投资人的合法权益,促进我国的金融改革和提高金融国际竞争力。构建金融控股公司立法制度要从安全、效益和提高竞争力的角度出发,通过构建准入制度,有利于金融控股公司在我国的发展;构建防火墙制度,有利于防范风险的传递;构建监管制度,有利于监管机构加强监管。     

Financial friction in an emerging economy

The objective of this study is to evaluate the role of the frictional domestic credit market in an emerging country by using a small-open-economy DSGE model with a banking sector. The calibration results show that the financial friction does not significantly influence the macroeconomic effects of the shocks to the domestic productivity, foreign interest rate and export demand. We also evaluate whether and how the trade and financial openness can influence the effects of the domestic financial shocks that in turn affect the supply of loans in the credit market. We show that greater trade and financial openness can reduce the macroeconomic impacts of the domestic financial distress. Under a more open international capital market, the capital outflow caused by the domestic financial shock does not lead to drastic exchange rate variation. This helps dampen the adverse effects of the financial distress on the economy.     

Inward FDI and Financial Constraints in Central and East European Countries

This study examines whether domestically owned firms in Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) confronted higher financial constraints in their investments than did foreign-owned enterprises, and whether the domestic enterprises' financial constraints were caused by incoming foreign direct investment (FDI). In theory, foreign investment may be needed to bring in capital only initially; the subsequent investment can be financed locally. On the other hand, foreign-owned companies may be more attractive borrowers, crowding out domestic firms from imperfect host-country capital markets. Both hypotheses, however, are rejected, as the results are not consistent across different dependent variables and verification methods. There is some evidence that FDI reduced foreign subsidiaries' constraints without increasing the constraints suffered by the domestic enterprises. Tests are performed with regressions based on two alternative firm-level models, a direct one using perception-based assessment of the constraints, and an indirect one with financial indicators.     

Dynamic Effects of Financial Openness on Economic Growth and Macroeconomic Uncertainty

This paper examines the dynamic effects of financial integration and foreign direct investment (FDI) on economic growth and macroeconomic uncertainty. Using the pooled mean group autoregressive distributed lag approach to annual data over 1975-2007 for ninety developing countries, we find that financial integration contributes to faster economic growth and lower growth uncertainty in the long run. The evidence also shows considerable heterogeneity in the short run. In addition, we find that FDI impedes output growth but mitigates uncertainty in output and consumption growth in the long run. In the short run, FDI has an average negative effect on growth and negligible effect on growth uncertainty, but there are large cross-country differences in response to FDI integration.     

Excessive Financial Support,Real Estate Development and Macroeconomic Growth: Evidence from China

ABSTRACT

Using monthly panel data for China’s 30 provinces from 2007 to 2017, this article analyzes how level of financial support affects the interplay between real estate development and macroeconomic growth. Based on a threshold model, the results suggest that housing price increases substantially impede economic growth, but there is no significant threshold effect for the sample as a whole. On investigating regional cross-sectional variations, we found that local economic situation clearly impacts on this effect, with significant threshold effects detected in subsamples. While housing price may have positive influences on economic growth in the mid-west subgroup with appropriate financial support, more developed regions returned contrary results.     

国际资本流入的易变性及其对策研究

国际资本流入的易变性是影响一国金融稳定的主要因素,主要表现在国际资本在短期内过度流入,并在特定环境下迅速逆转。本文采用1980-2008年78个国家和地区的数据,运用变异系数法对国际资本的三种类型(直接投资、组合投资和其他投资)的易变性分别进行了测算和比较,并采用广义的自回归条件异方差(GARCH)模型,对易变性的决定因素进行了面板数据检验。结果表明,组合投资和其他投资的易变性要显著大于直接投资,经济增长率、制度质量对FDI易变性产生影响,而国内金融体系结构、汇率波动和通货膨胀等则造成各国非FDI资本易变性的差异。这一发现对各国资本流动管理具有重要启示。     

Do tax sparing agreements contribute to the attraction of FDI in developing countries?

Measuring the effects of taxation on FDI in developing countries requires consideration of the tax sparing provision. This provision signed between developed and developing countries protects host country fiscal incentives for FDI. This paper estimates the impact of tax sparing provisions on Japanese outbound FDI between 1989 and 2000. We find evidence that the tax sparing provision influences positively the location of Japanese FDI, even after having taken into account reversal causality. JEL Classification F23 · H25 · H32 We Thank Michael Devereux, Edward Graham, Robert Lipsey, David Margolis, Claudia Rivas, Deborah Swenson, anonymous referees and seminar participants at the Franco-Korean conference in Seoul, and at the Western Economic Association conference in Vancouver for helpful discussions.     

试析金融自由化的前提条件

一国金融自由化改革的成功一般应具备四个条件,即稳定的宏观经济环境、金融脆弱性的及时消除、审慎而有效的金融监管以及必要的制度环境建设。这些条件经过各国的实践检验,具有一定的合理性和普遍性。但进行金融自由化改革的前提条件并不绝对,更重要的是应该从本国国情出发,具体情况具体对待,不宜盲目模仿他国。     

The determinants of private capital flow volatility in Sub-Saharan African countries

The study investigates the underlying factors of patterns of volatility for FDI, portfolio equity and cross-border bank lending inflows for sub-Saharan African countries using a panel framework with data from 1990 to 2011. No other study has focussed exclusively on sub-Saharan Africa when investigating the determinants of private capital flow volatility. This study is further unique in that it employs clearly-delineated cross-border bank lending data from the Bank of International Settlements’ (BIS) Locational Banking Statistics that has not been used by similar prior studies. The findings of the study are as follows: (1) global liquidity lowers FDI volatility while private sector credit increases volatility; (2) global liquidity increases portfolio equity volatility with growth and the quality of macroeconomic policies found to be important pull factors in lowering volatility; and (3) the quality of macroeconomic policies and trade openness are important pull factors in lowering cross-border bank lending volatility while financial openness increases volatility.     

Financial Exposure and the International Transmission of Financial Shocks

This paper analyzes the transmission mechanism of banking sector shocks in an international real business cycle model with heterogeneous bank sizes. We examine to what extent the financial exposure of the banking sector affects the transmission of foreign banking sector shocks. In our model, the more exposed domestic banks are to the foreign economy via lending to foreign firms, the greater are the spillovers from foreign financial shocks to the home economy. The model highlights the role of openness to trade and the dynamics of the terms of trade in the international transmission mechanism of banking sector shocks: spillovers from foreign banking sector shocks are greater the more open the home economy is to trade and the less the terms of trade respond to foreign shocks.     

Social Trust,Rule of Law,and Economic Exchange: Evidence from China and Its Major Trading Partners

ABSTRACT

Using cross-country panel data and employing the instrumental variable generalized method of moments (GMM) method, this article examines the effect of social trust on economic exchange between China and its major trading partners over the period 2005–2013. Social trust significantly increases bilateral trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) between China and its partners, and this effect is much stronger in nonmember countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) than OECD member countries. Further exploration suggests that the heterogeneity could be explained by the substitution relationship between social trust and the rule of law: social trust matters more in countries where the rule of law is weaker. We also .find that the impact of trust on trade and FDI is weaker in countries that have greater language similarity to China, are adjacent to China, or are common-law-origin countries. Based on these results, in implementing the Belt and Road Initiative, the Chinese government and companies should not only focus on each country’s legal norms but also attach importance to the role of social capital in international economic exchange.     

Foreign shareholders,relative foreign policy uncertainty and corporate cash holdings

Studies have shown that foreign investors hedge risks stemming from economic and political uncertainty in the home country through outward investment. This paper studies how foreign investors' home country risk affects their overseas investment and the host country firms' corporate cash holdings. We find that relative foreign EPU, defined as the difference between foreign investors' home country EPU and the host country of investment EPU, negatively impacts the host country firms' cash holdings through their influences on managerial decision-making. This negative relationship arises from firms' precautionary and transaction motives as foreign investors perceive lower corporate risk and better investment opportunities in the host country firms. Good corporate governance is also instrumental in yielding this negative relationship. The reduction in cash holdings due to high relative foreign EPU is more pronounced if foreign investors' home country legal environment is weaker, the two countries are further apart, and there is little trade partnership between them.     

上海自贸区金融服务业对外开放研究

上海自贸区成立后在金融服务业对外开放方面先行先试,已取得了一定成效,但还需进一步加大改革开放力度。借鉴国外经验,本文提出了上海自贸区进一步扩大金融服务业对外开放的总体思路和分阶段任务。     

Financial Development and Total Factor Productivity Growth: Evidence from China

Abstract

In this article, we estimate the effect of China’s regional financial development on total factor productivity (TFP) growth using large provincial panel data for the years 1990 to 2009. Using the nonparametric stochastic frontier data envelopment approach, we analyze how financial development is related to efficiency improvement and technological progress, the two components of TFP. The study shows that Chinese financial development plays a significant role in promoting TFP growth via technological progress rather than efficiency change. The faster the financial development takes place, the better it could correct the mismatch of resource allocation, thus promoting TFP growth. The results imply that China needs to both further optimize the allocation of financial resources and perfect the regional financial system.