Foreign Direct Investment and Productivity Spillovers: Firm-Level Evidence From Chilean Industrial Sector

Using firm-level panel data, this article examines whether spillovers from foreign direct investment (FDI) make a contribution to productivity growth in Chilean manufacturing firms. The main contribution of this work is to apply a methodology to estimate, in a consistent manner, the productivity impact of investment climate variables, such as FDI. With this aim, the spillover effects from FDI are analyzed using a stochastic frontier approach (SFA). Productivity growth is decomposed using a generalized Malmquist output-oriented index. The results show positive productivity spillovers from FDI; higher competition is associated with larger spillovers; and firms with high R&D effort gain more spillover benefits compared to those with less R&D effort.