IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/weltar/v154y2018i2d10.1007_s10290-017-0298-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Indirect productivity effects from foreign direct investment and multinational firm heterogeneity

Author

Listed:
  • Karolien Lenaerts

    (Ghent University
    Research Foundation-Flanders (FWO-Vlaanderen)
    CEPS)

  • Bruno Merlevede

    (Ghent University)

Abstract

This paper analyzes for a panel of Romanian manufacturing firms whether the quality of foreign firms, measured by their productivity level, affects their potential as a source of indirect productivity effects on domestic firms. We find that only sufficiently productive foreign firms generate positive productivity effects on domestic supplier firms. The most productive foreign firms are the main source of productivity effects. Domestic firms with higher productivity levels also enjoy larger total positive productivity effects. When supplying foreign firms that are less productive than themselves, domestic firms experience zero to negative effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Karolien Lenaerts & Bruno Merlevede, 2018. "Indirect productivity effects from foreign direct investment and multinational firm heterogeneity," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 154(2), pages 377-400, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:weltar:v:154:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s10290-017-0298-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s10290-017-0298-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10290-017-0298-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10290-017-0298-9?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. Sourafel Girma & Yundan Gong & Holger Görg & Sandra Lancheros, 2016. "Estimating direct and indirect effects of foreign direct investment on firm productivity in the presence of interactions between firms," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES AND HOST COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT, chapter 12, pages 227-239, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. Zvi Griliches & Jacques Mairesse, 1995. "Production Functions: The Search for Identification," NBER Working Papers 5067, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Holger Görg & David Greenaway, 2016. "Much Ado about Nothing? Do Domestic Firms Really Benefit from Foreign Direct Investment?," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES AND HOST COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT Volume 53: World Scientific Studies in International Economics, chapter 9, pages 163-189, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    4. Nicholas Bloom & Mark Schankerman & John Van Reenen, 2013. "Identifying Technology Spillovers and Product Market Rivalry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 81(4), pages 1347-1393, July.
    5. Torfinn Harding & Beata S. Javorcik, 2011. "Roll Out the Red Carpet and They Will Come: Investment Promotion and FDI Inflows," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 121(557), pages 1445-1476, December.
    6. Borensztein, E. & De Gregorio, J. & Lee, J-W., 1998. "How does foreign direct investment affect economic growth?1," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 115-135, June.
    7. 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..
    8. Maria Guadalupe & Olga Kuzmina & Catherine Thomas, 2012. "Innovation and Foreign Ownership," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(7), pages 3594-3627, December.
    9. Elhanan Helpman & Marc J. Melitz & Stephen R. Yeaple, 2004. "Export Versus FDI with Heterogeneous Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(1), pages 300-316, March.
    10. Iršová, Zuzana & Havránek, Tomáš, 2013. "Determinants of Horizontal Spillovers from FDI: Evidence from a Large Meta-Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1-15.
    11. Gorodnichenko, Yuriy & Svejnar, Jan & Terrell, Katherine, 2014. "When does FDI have positive spillovers? Evidence from 17 transition market economies," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 954-969.
    12. Marin, Anabel & Sasidharan, Subash, 2010. "Heterogeneous MNC subsidiaries and technological spillovers: Explaining positive and negative effects in India," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 1227-1241, November.
    13. Fredrik Sjoholm, 1999. "Technology gap, competition and spillovers from direct foreign investment: Evidence from establishment data," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(1), pages 53-73.
    14. 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.
    15. James R. Markusen, 1995. "The Boundaries of Multinational Enterprises and the Theory of International Trade," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 169-189, Spring.
    16. Mary Amiti & Jozef Konings, 2007. "Trade Liberalization, Intermediate Inputs, and Productivity: Evidence from Indonesia," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(5), pages 1611-1638, December.
    17. Keller, Wolfgang, 2010. "International Trade, Foreign Direct Investment, and Technology Spillovers," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 793-829, Elsevier.
    18. Matthias Arnold, Jens & Javorcik, Beata S., 2009. "Gifted kids or pushy parents? Foreign direct investment and plant productivity in Indonesia," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(1), pages 42-53, September.
    19. Merlevede, Bruno & Schoors, Koen & Spatareanu, Mariana, 2014. "FDI Spillovers and Time since Foreign Entry," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 108-126.
    20. repec:bla:econom:v:41:y:1974:i:162:p:176-93 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Anabel Marin & Martin Bell, 2006. "Technology spillovers from Foreign Direct Investment (FDI): the active role of MNC subsidiaries in Argentina in the 1990s," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(4), pages 678-697.
    22. Keller, Wolfgang, 1996. "Absorptive capacity: On the creation and acquisition of technology in development," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 199-227, April.
    23. Carlo Altomonte & Italo Colantone, 2008. "Firm heterogeneity and endogenous regional disparities," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 8(6), pages 779-810, November.
    24. Sourafel Girma, 2005. "Absorptive Capacity and Productivity Spillovers from FDI: A Threshold Regression Analysis," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 67(3), pages 281-306, June.
    25. Havranek, Tomas & Irsova, Zuzana, 2011. "Estimating vertical spillovers from FDI: Why results vary and what the true effect is," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 234-244.
    26. Olley, G Steven & Pakes, Ariel, 1996. "The Dynamics of Productivity in the Telecommunications Equipment Industry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(6), pages 1263-1297, November.
    27. Magnus Blomström & Ari Kokko & Mario Zejan, 2000. "Productivity Spillovers from Competition between Local Firms and Foreign Affiliates," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Foreign Direct Investment, chapter 12, pages 187-202, Palgrave Macmillan.
    28. 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.
    29. Iacovone, Leonardo & Javorcik, Beata & Keller, Wolfgang & Tybout, James, 2015. "Supplier responses to Walmart's invasion in Mexico," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1), pages 1-15.
    30. Crespo, Nuno & Fontoura, Maria Paula, 2007. "Determinant Factors of FDI Spillovers - What Do We Really Know?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 410-425, March.
    31. Javorcik, Beata S. & Spatareanu, Mariana, 2011. "Does it matter where you come from? Vertical spillovers from foreign direct investment and the origin of investors," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 126-138, September.
    32. 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.
    33. Damijan, Jože P. & Rojec, Matija & Majcen, Boris & Knell, Mark, 2013. "Impact of firm heterogeneity on direct and spillover effects of FDI: Micro-evidence from ten transition countries," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 895-922.
    34. Sourafel Girma & Holger Görg, 2007. "The Role of the Efficiency Gap for Spillovers from FDI: Evidence from the UK Electronics and Engineering Sectors," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 215-232, April.
    35. Klaus E Meyer & Evis Sinani, 2009. "When and where does foreign direct investment generate positive spillovers? A meta-analysis," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 40(7), pages 1075-1094, September.
    36. James Levinsohn & Amil Petrin, 2003. "Estimating Production Functions Using Inputs to Control for Unobservables," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 70(2), pages 317-341.
    37. Ingo Geishecker & Holger Görg & Daria Taglioni, 2009. "Characterising Euro Area Multinationals," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 49-76, January.
    38. Karolien Lenaerts & Bruno Merlevede, 2016. "Supply chain fragmentation, input--output tables and spillovers from foreign direct investment," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(3), pages 315-332, September.
    39. Haijime Katayama & Shihua Lu & James Tybout, 2003. "Why Plant-Level Productivity Studies are Often Misleading, and an Alternative Approach to Interference," NBER Working Papers 9617, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    40. Moulton, Brent R, 1990. "An Illustration of a Pitfall in Estimating the Effects of Aggregate Variables on Micro Unit," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 72(2), pages 334-338, May.
    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. Bruno Merlevede & Victoria Purice, 2019. "Border Regimes And Indirect Productivity Effects From Foreign Direct Investment," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 19/965, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.

    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. K. Lenaerts & B. Merlevede, 2014. "FDI Spillovers and Multinational Firm Heterogeneity," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 14/879, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    2. Bruno Merlevede & Victoria Purice, 2016. "Distance, time since foreign entry, and productivity spillovers from foreign direct investment," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 95(4), pages 775-800, November.
    3. Merlevede, Bruno & Schoors, Koen & Spatareanu, Mariana, 2014. "FDI Spillovers and Time since Foreign Entry," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 108-126.
    4. Merlevede, Bruno & Schoors, Koen & Spatareanu, Mariana, 2014. "FDI Spillovers and Time since Foreign Entry," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 108-126.
    5. Bruno Merlevede & Victoria Purice, 2014. "Distance, Time since Foreign Entry, and Knowledge Spillovers from Foreign Direct Investment," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 14/896, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    6. repec:zbw:bofitp:2013_027 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Jordaan,Jacob Arie & Douw,Willem & Qiang,Zhenwei, 2020. "Multinational Corporation Affiliates, Backward Linkages, and Productivity Spillovers in Developing and Emerging Economies : Evidence and Policy Making," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9364, The World Bank.
    8. Bruno Merlevede & Victoria Purice, 2019. "Border Regimes And Indirect Productivity Effects From Foreign Direct Investment," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 19/965, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    9. Ioannis Bournakis & Sotiris Papaioannou & Marina Papanastassiou, 2022. "Multinationals and domestic total factor productivity: Competition effects, knowledge spillovers and foreign ownership," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(12), pages 3715-3750, December.
    10. Karolien Lenaerts & Bruno Merlevede, 2015. "Firm size and spillover effects from foreign direct investment: the case of Romania," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 595-611, October.
    11. Karolien Lenaerts & Bruno Merlevede, 2016. "Supply chain fragmentation, input--output tables and spillovers from foreign direct investment," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(3), pages 315-332, September.
    12. Dea Tusha & Jacob A. Jordaan, 2021. "Biased FDI spillovers in incomplete datasets: An empirical examination," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 582-600, May.
    13. Yoshimichi Murakami & Keijiro Otsuka, 2020. "Governance, Information Spillovers, and Productivity of Local Firms: Toward an Integrated Approach to Foreign Direct Investment and Global Value Chains," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 58(2), pages 134-174, June.
    14. Orlic, Edvard & Hashi, Iraj & Hisarciklilar, Mehtap, 2018. "Cross sectoral FDI spillovers and their impact on manufacturing productivity," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 777-796.
    15. Bournakis, Ioannis & Papanastassiou, Marina & Papaioannou, Sotiris, 2020. "Multinationals and Domestic TFP: Market Shares, Agglomerations Gains and Foreign Ownership," MPRA Paper 106626, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Sara L. McGaughey & Pascalis Raimondos & Lisbeth La Cour, 2018. "What is a Foreign Firm? Implications for Productivity Spillovers," CESifo Working Paper Series 7109, CESifo.
    17. K. Lenaerts & B. Merlevede, 2012. "Supply Chain Fragmentation and Spillovers from Foreign Direct Investment," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 12/822, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    18. Ali, Nesma & Stiebale, Joel, 2021. "Foreign direct investment, prices and efficiency: Evidence from India," DICE Discussion Papers 363, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    19. Thanh Tam Nguyen-Huu & Ngoc-Sang Pham, 2021. "Escaping the middle income trap and getting economic growth: How does FDI can help the host country?," Working Papers halshs-03143087, HAL.
    20. Shawn W. Tan & Dea Tusha, 2023. "Foreign firm characteristics, labour market restrictions and FDI spillovers: Evidence from Moldova," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 85-119, January.
    21. Engidaw Sisay Negash & Wenjie Zhu & Yangyang Lu & Zhikai Wang, 2020. "Does Chinese Inward Foreign Direct Investment Improve the Productivity of Domestic Firms? Horizontal Linkages and Absorptive Capacities: Firm-Level Evidence from Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-23, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    FDI spillovers; Multinationals; Firm heterogeneity; Technology transfer;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F2 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business
    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights

    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:spr:weltar:v:154:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s10290-017-0298-9. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.