Do Foreign Firms Transfer Gender Norms in the Labour Market? Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

Closing the gender gaps in economic opportunities is crucial for boosting economic growth and the empowerment of women. In this paper, we study how foreign firms contribute in reducing gender disparities in the labour market by transferring the gender norms of their country of origin to the affiliates in the host countries. We use cross sectional data on foreign firms located in 19 Sub Saharan Africa countries in 2010 by UNIDO. We find that firms coming from more gender equal countries employ more female workers in their affiliates. This effect is more relevant for the highly skilled female workers.     

FDI facilitated by agglomeration economies: evidence from manufacturing and services joint ventures in China

The open door policy of China’s economic reform since the 1980s has attracted heavy foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into China and especially to Guangdong (particularly the Pearl River Delta region, PRD) and induced significant economic growth during the past two decades. While there exist various classical theories of FDI in attempting to identify the determinants of FDI inflow and to explain the behavior of FDI flows, limited attention has been given from the perspective of agglomeration effects generated by a core-periphery (CP) relation.This paper intends to study the impacts of agglomerations on FDI inflows in the context of Krugman’s CP relation (1991) by investigating (1) the formation of a CP relation via gravity model analysis; (2) whether different types of industry FDI flows will respond differently in the CP-system, given agglomeration effects; and (3) whether FDI origin and firm scale matter in affecting FDI flows.A database consisting of a population frame of 37,742 firm-level manufacturing and services joint ventures investing in Guangdong in 1998 was used. Empirical results show that the agglomerations of the CP relation have affected FDI flow patterns. While both manufacturing and services FDI and sources of investment responded differently to the impacts, smaller firms were found more responsive to the CP-agglomeration settings regardless of FDI by industry type and by source. The significance and implications of the CP-system to further facilitate FDI in the region are discussed.     

主要FDI母国（地区）对华投资的贸易效应分析

由于影响因素众多，不考虑贸易结构的变化，而仅从数量上看，FDI对国际贸易可以产生三种效果，即替代效应、补充效应和不确定效应。具体到不同的东道国和母国，FDI对其国际贸易的最终影响将取决于何种效应占上风。本文即是对中国的投资来源国（地区）的对华投资额与对华贸易额之间的相关关系所作的一个经验分析。此分析是为了检验中国吸收的FDI所产生的双边贸易效果。文中以中国的6个投资来源大国（地区）和贸易伙伴大国（地区）为样本，分别对各国1991—2006年间对华直接投资与对华贸易之间的相关性进行了检验。结果表明，投资对贸易的三种效应在中国都是存在的，情况因国而异。     

马来西亚引进FDI的贸易效应分析

自独立以来，马来西亚就注重吸收外商直接投资(FDI)，并希望以此带动出口，扩大贸易。至今，马来西亚的外商直接投资和国际贸易都取得了长足的发展。但是，马来西亚的外商直接投资对贸易的促进作用并没有人们想象的那么大。本文试图丛理论和实证两方面对此作一分析。     

Foreign direct investment and vertical integration of production by Japanese multinationals in Thailand

We test the vertical model of foreign direct investment (FDI) empirically using firm level information on Japanese multinational activity in Thailand. These data allow us to investigate the effects of both home country (Japan) and host country (Thailand) characteristics on the inter-industry pattern of FDI. For 85 manufacturing industries over the period from 1985 to 1995, we find a positive influence of industry variation in skill intensity and market size in the host country and a negative effect of transport costs on the amount of FDI. These results provide strong direct econometric evidence of vertical integration of production across the countries. Journal of Comparative Economics 32 (4) (2004) 805–821.     

中印利用FDI绩效比较分析

中国和印度是世界上最大的两个发展中国家，曾同为农业世界的中心国家，在近代均经历了经济从衰落到复兴的过程，又均在20世纪末进行了经济改革，因此对中印两国的比较研究具有很强的现实意义。两国利用外资格局具有明显的差异。FDI在中国更多流向加工制造业，在印度则更多流向离岸服务业；中国与印度利用外资存在差别的原因是基于总体引资环境、经济发展战略侧重点等方面的差异：且中印利用外资对经济产生了不同的重要影响。     

Spatial determinants of Japanese FDI in China

Research on foreign direct investment in China has spawned an increasingly large literature. Whilst regional cleavages with respect to the distribution of foreign direct investment (FDI) are acknowledged, empirical research on the spatial determinants of FDI in China has been limited. Furthermore, research on the spatial determinants of home country FDI in China has thus far been neglected due to difficulties in accessing the appropriate data. The objective of this paper is to examine the spatial determinants of Japanese direct investment in China by using an econometric model. To that purpose, a dataset is created from the Toyo Keizai directory on the overseas activities of Japanese companies. The results show that tertiary education, inland waterways, as well as coastal location are positive and significant determinants of Japanese investment in China.     

FDI对我国劳动力市场均衡发展的积极效应

FDI投资规模的扩大缓解了我国劳动力市场供大于求的非均衡状态,同时,FDI通过扩大对熟练劳动力的需求以及对员工的培训和外资企业的技术扩散效应提高了我国的劳动力素质.外资企业市场化、法制化的劳动力资源配置机制和管理手段也对我国的企业起到了积极的示范作用,促进了劳动力的自由流动和劳动力薪酬制度的合理化,健全了我国的劳动力市场制度建设.FDI从这三个方面对我国的劳动力市场均衡发展产生了积极的效应.     

外商直接投资对产业结构升级的作用机制研究

随着知识经济时代的到来,产业结构升级成为现代经济发展中的焦点问题。外商投资起到了促进传统产业转移、新兴产业成长和产业组织结构优化等作用,并且带动了产业的调整和升级。但是,外商投资对于产业结构升级也存在一定的阻碍作用,通过研究外资对产业升级产生的影响,从而制定合理的引资政策具有十分重要的现实意义。     

FDI对中国二元经济转型与劳动力转移的影响

本文研究了外国直接投资（FDI）促进二元经济转型与劳动力转移的作用机制，揭示了FDI对中国二元经济转型与劳动力转移的积极影响，并提出了一些政策建议。