IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/deveco/v170y2024ics0304387824000427.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

FDI inflows and export quality: Domestic competition and within-firm adjustment

Author

Listed:
  • Liu, Qing
  • Qiu, Larry D.
  • Zhan, Chaoqun

Abstract

Product quality is widely regarded as an important determinant for economic development. This paper investigates whether horizontal foreign direct investment (FDI) improves or deteriorates the quality of domestic firms’ exports. We use China’s FDI regulation changes in 2002 as an instrument variable (IV) for FDI penetration in China to identify the causal impact and introduce a theoretical model to rationalize our empirical work. We find that FDI inflows exert a significantly negative effect on Chinese firms’ export quality. The mechanism of the negative effect is that FDI intensifies the domestic market competition, which induces within-firm adjustment of product mix and lowers domestic firms’ incentive to invest in the quality of new products. In particular, while domestic firms drop some existing products and introduce new products, they invest less in the quality of new products and maintain the quality of continuing products.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Qing & Qiu, Larry D. & Zhan, Chaoqun, 2024. "FDI inflows and export quality: Domestic competition and within-firm adjustment," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:170:y:2024:i:c:s0304387824000427
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103293
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304387824000427
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103293?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lu, Yi & Tao, Zhigang & Zhu, Lianming, 2017. "Identifying FDI spillovers," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 75-90.
    2. Broda, Christian & Greenfield, Joshua & Weinstein, David E., 2017. "From groundnuts to globalization: A structural estimate of trade and growth," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(4), pages 759-783.
    3. Jan De Loecker & Pinelopi K. Goldberg & Amit K. Khandelwal & Nina Pavcnik, 2016. "Prices, Markups, and Trade Reform," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 84, pages 445-510, March.
    4. repec:clu:wpaper:0708-12 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Manova, Kalina & Yu, Zhihong, 2017. "Multi-product firms and product quality," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 116-137.
    6. Wolfgang Keller & Stephen R. Yeaple, 2009. "Multinational Enterprises, International Trade, and Productivity Growth: Firm-Level Evidence from the United States," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 91(4), pages 821-831, November.
    7. Daniel Garcia‐Macia & Chang‐Tai Hsieh & Peter J. Klenow, 2019. "How Destructive Is Innovation?," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 87(5), pages 1507-1541, September.
    8. Marc J. Melitz, 2003. "The Impact of Trade on Intra-Industry Reallocations and Aggregate Industry Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(6), pages 1695-1725, November.
    9. Laura Alfaro & Maggie X. Chen, 2018. "Selection and Market Reallocation: Productivity Gains from Multinational Production," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 1-38, May.
    10. Brian J. Aitken & Ann E. Harrison, 2022. "Do Domestic Firms Benefit from Direct Foreign Investment? Evidence from Venezuela," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Globalization, Firms, and Workers, chapter 6, pages 139-152, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    11. Qiu, Larry D. & Zhou, Wen, 2013. "Multiproduct firms and scope adjustment in globalization," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 142-153.
    12. Haichao Fan & Yao Amber Li & Stephen R. Yeaple, 2015. "Trade Liberalization, Quality, and Export Prices," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(5), pages 1033-1051, December.
    13. Beata S. Javorcik & Alessia Lo Turco & Daniela Maggioni, 2018. "New and Improved: Does FDI Boost Production Complexity in Host Countries?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(614), pages 2507-2537, September.
    14. Ahn, JaeBin & Khandelwal, Amit K. & Wei, Shang-Jin, 2011. "The role of intermediaries in facilitating trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 73-85, May.
    15. Javorcik, Beata Smarzynska & Spatareanu, Mariana, 2008. "To share or not to share: Does local participation matter for spillovers from foreign direct investment?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1-2), pages 194-217, February.
    16. Colin J. Hottman & Stephen J. Redding & David E. Weinstein, 2016. "Quantifying the Sources of Firm Heterogeneity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(3), pages 1291-1364.
    17. Salvador Barrios & Holger Görg & Eric Strobl, 2016. "Spillovers through backward linkages from multinationals: Measurement matters!," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES AND HOST COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT, chapter 11, pages 213-226, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    18. Peter K. Schott, 2008. "The relative sophistication of Chinese exports [‘Manufacturing Earnings and Compensation in China’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 23(53), pages 6-49.
    19. Zhi Wang & Shang-Jin Wei, 2010. "What Accounts for the Rising Sophistication of China's Exports?," NBER Chapters, in: China's Growing Role in World Trade, pages 63-104, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Andrew B. Bernard & Stephen J. Redding & Peter K. Schott, 2010. "Multiple-Product Firms and Product Switching," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(1), pages 70-97, March.
    21. Robert C. Feenstra & John Romalis, 2014. "International Prices and Endogenous Quality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(2), pages 477-527.
    22. Maria Bas & Vanessa Strauss-Kahn, 2013. "Input-Trade Liberalization, Export Prices and Quality Upgrading," Working Papers hal-03460775, HAL.
    23. Amit K. Khandelwal & Peter K. Schott & Shang-Jin Wei, 2013. "Trade Liberalization and Embedded Institutional Reform: Evidence from Chinese Exporters," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(6), pages 2169-2195, October.
    24. Maurice Kugler & Eric Verhoogen, 2012. "Prices, Plant Size, and Product Quality," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 79(1), pages 307-339.
    25. Beata Smarzynska Javorcik, 2004. "Does Foreign Direct Investment Increase the Productivity of Domestic Firms? In Search of Spillovers Through Backward Linkages," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 605-627, June.
    26. Matej Bajgar & Beata Javorcik, 2020. "Climbing the Rungs of the Quality Ladder: FDI and Domestic Exporters in Romania," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 130(628), pages 937-955.
    27. Serguey Braguinsky & Atsushi Ohyama & Tetsuji Okazaki & Chad Syverson, 2021. "Product Innovation, Product Diversification, and Firm Growth: Evidence from Japan's Early Industrialization," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(12), pages 3795-3826, December.
    28. repec:oup:ecpoli:v:23:y:2008:i::p:5-49 is not listed on IDEAS
    29. Bas, Maria & Strauss-Kahn, Vanessa, 2015. "Input-trade liberalization, export prices and quality upgrading," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(2), pages 250-262.
    30. Jonathan E. Haskel & Sonia C. Pereira & Matthew J. Slaughter, 2007. "Does Inward Foreign Direct Investment Boost the Productivity of Domestic Firms?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(3), pages 482-496, August.
    31. Galina Hale, 2010. "Comment on "What Accounts for the Rising Sophistication of China's Exports?"," NBER Chapters, in: China's Growing Role in World Trade, pages 104-107, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    32. Deborah L. Swenson & Huiya Chen, 2014. "Multinational Exposure and the Quality of New Chinese Exports," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 76(1), pages 41-66, February.
    33. Torfinn Harding & Beata S. Javorcik, 2012. "Foreign Direct Investment and Export Upgrading," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(4), pages 964-980, November.
    34. Miaojie Yu, 2015. "Processing Trade, Tariff Reductions and Firm Productivity: Evidence from Chinese Firms," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(585), pages 943-988, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ma, Yeqing & Ni, Yining & Meng, Ning, 2024. "Financial development and the impact of FDI on firm innovation: Evidence from bank deregulation in China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andrea Ciani & Michele Imbruno, 2017. "Microeconomic mechanisms behind export spillovers from FDI: evidence from Bulgaria," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 153(4), pages 703-734, November.
    2. Saito, Hisamitsu, 2021. "Foreign direct investment and quality upgrading in Indonesian manufacturing," MPRA Paper 106770, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Fan, Haichao & Li, Yao Amber & Yeaple, Stephen R., 2018. "On the relationship between quality and productivity: Evidence from China's accession to the WTO," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 28-49.
    4. Manova, Kalina & Yu, Zhihong, 2017. "Multi-product firms and product quality," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 116-137.
    5. Copestake, Alexander & Zhang, Wenzhang, 2023. "Inputs, networks and quality-upgrading: Evidence from China in India," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    6. Bas, Maria & Paunov, Caroline, 2021. "Input quality and skills are complementary and increase output quality: Causal evidence from Ecuador’s trade liberalization," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    7. Poupakis,Stavros, 2020. "Are Inflows of FDI Good for Russian Exporters ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9201, The World Bank.
    8. Tan, Yong & An, Liwei, 2019. "Quota removal and firm-level offshoring: Theory and evidence," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 225-239.
    9. Xianhai Huang & Kun Liu & Hangyu Chen, 2020. "The puzzle of quality upgrading of Chinese exports from the trade liberalization perspective," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 161-184, May.
    10. Sara L. McGaughey & Pascalis Raimondos & Lisbeth Cour, 2020. "Foreign influence, control, and indirect ownership: Implications for productivity spillovers," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(9), pages 1391-1412, December.
    11. Stiebale, Joel & Vencappa, Dev, 2018. "Acquisitions, markups, efficiency, and product quality: Evidence from India," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 70-87.
    12. Fan, Haichao & Li, Yao Amber & Xu, Sichuang & Yeaple, Stephen R., 2020. "Quality, variable markups, and welfare: A quantitative general equilibrium analysis of export prices," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    13. Maria Bas & Caroline Paunov, 2019. "What gains and distributional implications result from trade liberalization," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 19003, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    14. Meng, Ning & Milner, Chris & Song, Huasheng, 2020. "Antidumping and heterogeneous quality adjustment of multi-product firms: Evidence from Chinese exporters," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 147-161.
    15. Tan, Yong & Zhao, Chen, 2017. "New Exporters and Continuing Exporters under Exchange Rate Fluctuations," MPRA Paper 77244, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Bas, Maria & Paunov, Caroline, 2021. "Disentangling trade reform impacts on firm market and production decisions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    17. Naoto Jinji & Xingyuan Zhang & Shoji Haruna, 2022. "Deep Integration, Global Firms, and Technology Spillovers," Advances in Japanese Business and Economics, Springer, number 978-981-16-5210-3, June.
    18. Michele Imbruno, 2022. "Export adjustment to input trade liberalization: The role of import wholesaling services," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 764-795, August.
    19. Deng, Lijing & Lu, Yue & Tang, Yao, 2024. "Does FDI increase product innovation of domestic firms? Evidence from China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 1-24.
    20. Gao, Yunshu & Yin, Sisi & Ferrett, Ben & Gao, Bo, 2024. "FDI deregulation and firm innovation: Evidence from firm patents," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Foreign direct investment; Product quality; New product; Competition; Chinese firms;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K23 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Regulated Industries and Administrative Law
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • F61 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Microeconomic Impacts
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:170:y:2024:i:c:s0304387824000427. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/devec .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.