Some twins are not alike: FDI premia in the former Soviet states

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to estimate foreign direct investment (FDI) premia in the former Soviet states. Design/methodology/approach - The authors follow an empirical approach. Using Orbis data for a sample of more than 3,000 companies, the authors characterize FDI involvement and FDI premia of firms from three distinctive groups of former Soviet states, designated “upper-middle”-income, “lower-middle”-income and “high”-income countries. This yields interesting within-group and between-group results on the effects of outward FDI (OFDI) and inward FDI (IFDI) on firm-level innovation. Findings - The authors unveil new facts about innovation and FDI in the former Soviet states. FDI firms innovate more than non-FDI firms and OFDI firms innovate more than IFDI firms. The innovation effect of OFDI is the largest for firms from the “lower-middle” countries, followed by the “high” and “upper-middle” countries. The innovation effect of IFDI is the largest for firms from the “lower-middle” countries, followed by the “upper-middle” and “high” countries. FDI to and from Europe has the largest impact on innovation; this holds across country groups. Research limitations/implications - The estimates of this paper document robust FDI premia, i.e., a positive and significant correlation between firm-level innovation and FDI. However, the cross-sectional nature of the data does not permit a proper causality analysis. Originality/value - The paper contributes to the literature on FDI premia by: considering IFDI and OFDI in a unified empirical framework; dissecting IFDI and OFDI by location; measuring firm-level productivity in terms of innovation; and providing cross-country comparable evidence on both emerging and advanced economies. At the same time, the paper contributes to the literature on FDI from emerging economies by: taking a firm-level quantitative approach; focusing on a relatively unexplored set of countries; and providing comparable cross-country evidence on both emerging and advanced economies.