IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_5940.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Why is China Investing in Africa? Evidence from the Firm Level

Author

Listed:
  • Wenjie Chen
  • David Dollar
  • Heiwai Tang

Abstract

China’s increased trade with and investment in Africa have boosted the continent’s economic growth but have also generated considerable controversy. In this paper we investigate China’s outward direct investment ODI in Africa using macro and micro data. The aggregate data on China’s ODI in African countries reveal that China’s share of the stock of foreign investment is small, though growing rapidly. China’s attraction to resource-rich countries is no different from Western investment. China’s overall ODI is uncorrelated with a measure of rule of law, whereas Western investment favors the better governance environments. As a result, Chinese investment in strong and weak governance environments is about the same, but its share of foreign investment is higher in the weak governance states. The micro data that we use is MOFCOM’s database on all registered Chinese firms investing in Africa between 1998 and 2012. We use key words in project descriptions to code the investments into 25 sectors. This database captures the small and medium private firms investing in Africa. Contrary to common perceptions, there are few projects in natural resource sectors. Most projects are in services, with a significant number in manufacturing as well. In our country-sector-level regressions based on firms’ transaction-level data, we find that Chinese ODI, both horizontal and vertical, is profit-driven, just like investors from other countries. In particular, our regressions show that Chinese ODI is relatively more concentrated in skill-intensive sectors in skill-abundant countries, but in capital-intensive sectors in capital-scarce countries. These patterns are mostly observed in politically unstable countries, suggesting stronger incentives to seek profits in tougher environments. The predominance of Chinese ODI in services appears to be widespread across host countries, independent of host countries’ market size and trade costs, but is negatively correlated with their skill abundance.

Suggested Citation

  • Wenjie Chen & David Dollar & Heiwai Tang, 2016. "Why is China Investing in Africa? Evidence from the Firm Level," CESifo Working Paper Series 5940, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_5940
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp5940.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wenjie Chen & Heiwai Tang, 2014. "The Dragon Is Flying West: Micro-level Evidence of Chinese Outward Direct Investment," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 31(2), pages 109-140, September.
    2. Xiao, Simon Shufeng & Jeong, Insik & Moon, Jon Jungbien & Chung, Chris Changwha & Chung, Jaiho, 2013. "Internationalization and Performance of Firms in China: Moderating Effects of Governance Structure and the Degree of Centralized Control," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 118-137.
    3. John Romalis, 2004. "Factor Proportions and the Structure of Commodity Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(1), pages 67-97, March.
    4. John Mathews, 2006. "Dragon multinationals: New players in 21 st century globalization," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 5-27, March.
    5. Rotunno, Lorenzo & Vézina, Pierre-Louis & Wang, Zheng, 2013. "The rise and fall of (Chinese) African apparel exports," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 152-163.
    6. Raphael Kaplinsky & Mike Morris, 2009. "Chinese FDI in Sub-Saharan Africa: Engaging with Large Dragons," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 21(4), pages 551-569, September.
    7. Barro, Robert J. & Lee, Jong Wha, 2013. "A new data set of educational attainment in the world, 1950–2010," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 184-198.
    8. Peter J Buckley & L Jeremy Clegg & Adam R Cross & Xin Liu & Hinrich Voss & Ping Zheng, 2007. "The determinants of Chinese outward foreign direct investment," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 38(4), pages 499-518, July.
    9. Brainard, S Lael, 1997. "An Empirical Assessment of the Proximity-Concentration Trade-off between Multinational Sales and Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(4), pages 520-544, September.
    10. Daniel Lederman & Taye Mengistae & Lixin Colin Xu, 2013. "Microeconomic consequences and macroeconomic causes of foreign direct investment in southern African economies," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(25), pages 3637-3649, September.
    11. Shige Makino & Chung-Ming Lau & Rhy-Song Yeh, 2002. "Asset-Exploitation Versus Asset-Seeking: Implications for Location Choice of Foreign Direct Investment from Newly Industrialized Economies," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 33(3), pages 403-421, September.
    12. Lane, Philip R. & Milesi-Ferretti, Gian Maria, 2007. "The external wealth of nations mark II: Revised and extended estimates of foreign assets and liabilities, 1970-2004," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 223-250, November.
    13. Yadong Luo & Hongxin Zhao & Yagang Wang & Youmin Xi, 2011. "Venturing Abroad by Emerging Market Enterprises," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 433-459, August.
    14. Xiaozu Wang & Lixin Colin Xu & Tian Zhu, 2012. "Foreign direct investment under a weak rule of law," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 20(3), pages 401-424, July.
    15. Hsiu-Ling Wu & Chien-Hsun Chen, 2001. "An Assessment of Outward Foreign Direct Investment from China's Transitional Economy," Europe-Asia Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(8), pages 1235-1254.
    16. Agata Antkiewicz & John Whalley, 2007. "Recent Chinese Buyout Activity and the Implications for Wider Global Investment Rules," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 33(2), pages 207-226, June.
    17. Lin Cui & Fuming Jiang, 2012. "State ownership effect on firms' FDI ownership decisions under institutional pressure: a study of Chinese outward-investing firms," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 43(3), pages 264-284, April.
    18. Rui, Huaichuan & Yip, George S., 2008. "Foreign acquisitions by Chinese firms: A strategic intent perspective," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 213-226, March.
    19. Yuan Chen & Michael Young, 2010. "Cross-border mergers and acquisitions by Chinese listed companies: A principal–principal perspective," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 27(3), pages 523-539, September.
    20. Bergstrand, Jeffrey H. & Egger, Peter, 2007. "A knowledge-and-physical-capital model of international trade flows, foreign direct investment, and multinational enterprises," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 278-308, November.
    21. Stephen Ross Yeaple, 2003. "The Role of Skill Endowments in the Structure of U.S. Outward Foreign Direct Investment," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(3), pages 726-734, August.
    22. Lane, Philip & Milesi-Ferretti, Gian Maria, "undated". "External Wealth of Nations," Instructional Stata datasets for econometrics extwealth, Boston College Department of Economics.
    23. Keith E. Maskus & Allan Webster, 1995. "Comparative Advantage and the Location of Inward Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence from the UK and South Korea," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(2), pages 315-328, March.
    24. Raphael Power, 2008. "What Does the Rise of China Do for Industrialisation in Sub-Saharan Africa?," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(115), pages 7-22, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Wenjie Chen & Heiwai Tang, 2014. "The Dragon Is Flying West: Micro-level Evidence of Chinese Outward Direct Investment," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 31(2), pages 109-140, September.
    2. Hu, Helen Wei & Cui, Lin, 2014. "Outward foreign direct investment of publicly listed firms from China: A corporate governance perspective," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 750-760.
    3. Alessia Amighini & Claudio Cozza & Elisa Giuliani & Roberta Rabellotti & Vittoria Scalera, 2015. "Multinational enterprises from emerging economies: what theories suggest, what evidence shows. A literature review," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 42(3), pages 343-370, September.
    4. Yiping Huang & Bijun Wang, 2013. "Investing Overseas Without Moving Factories Abroad: The Case of Chinese Outward Direct Investment," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 30(1), pages 85-107, March.
    5. Akhtaruzzaman, Muhammad & Berg, Nathan & Lien, Donald, 2017. "Confucius Institutes and FDI flows from China to Africa," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 241-252.
    6. Sunghoon Chung, 2012. "Environmental Regulation and the Pattern of Outward FDI: An Empirical Assessment of the Pollution Haven Hypothesis," Departmental Working Papers 1203, Southern Methodist University, Department of Economics.
    7. Choi, Yoona & Cui, Lin & Li, Yi & Tian, Xizhou, 2020. "Focused and ambidextrous catch-up strategies of emerging economy multinationals," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(6).
    8. Curran, Louise & Lv, Ping & Spigarelli, Francesca, 2017. "Chinese investment in the EU renewable energy sector: Motives, synergies and policy implications," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 670-682.
    9. Chung, Sunghoon, 2014. "Environmental regulation and foreign direct investment: Evidence from South Korea," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 222-236.
    10. Liu, Xiaohui & Gao, Lan & Lu, Jiangyong & Lioliou, Eleni, 2016. "Environmental risks, localization and the overseas subsidiary performance of MNEs from an emerging economy," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 356-368.
    11. Dylan Sutherland & John Anderson & Peter Hertenstein, 2018. "Is the Strategic Asset Seeking Investment Proclivity of Chinese MNEs Different to that of Developed Market MNEs? A Comparative Analysis of Location Choice and Orientation," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 58(6), pages 911-933, December.
    12. Anderson, John & Sutherland, Dylan & Severe, Sean, 2015. "An event study of home and host country patent generation in Chinese MNEs undertaking strategic asset acquisitions in developed markets," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 758-771.
    13. Wei, Ziyi & Nguyen, Quyen T.K., 2017. "Subsidiary strategy of emerging market multinationals: A home country institutional perspective," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 1009-1021.
    14. Lu, Baizhou & Hao, Wei & Liao, Jing & Wongchoti, Udomsak, 2023. "A leap of faith that echoes well? The value impact of Chinese firms starting up business overseas," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    15. Chen, Victor Zitian & Li, Jing & Shapiro, Daniel M., 2012. "International reverse spillover effects on parent firms: Evidences from emerging-market MNEs in developed markets," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 204-218.
    16. repec:wsr:wpaper:y:2020:i:194 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Yao, Shujie & Wang, Pan & Zhang, Jing & Ou, Jinghua, 2016. "Dynamic relationship between China's inward and outward foreign direct investments," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 54-70.
    18. Klaus Meyer & Ornjira Thaijongrak, 2013. "The dynamics of emerging economy MNEs: How the internationalization process model can guide future research," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 30(4), pages 1125-1153, December.
    19. Wei, Yingqi & Zheng, Nan & Liu, Xiaohui & Lu, Jiangyong, 2014. "Expanding to outward foreign direct investment or not? A multi-dimensional analysis of entry mode transformation of Chinese private exporting firms," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 356-370.
    20. Desbordes, Rodolphe & Wei, Shang-Jin, 2017. "The effects of financial development on foreign direct investment," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 153-168.
    21. Shiteng Xu & Jeff Gow & Youzhi Chen & Yahua Zhang & Zhibin Huang, 2019. "The Determinants Of Outward Foreign Direct Investment Strategies Of Chinese Energy Firms," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 64(04), pages 1019-1036, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    outward direct investment; FDI; China; Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F10 - International Economics - - Trade - - - General
    • F20 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - General
    • F60 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - 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:ces:ceswps:_5940. 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: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .

    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.