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Foreign Direct Investment and Wages: Does the Level of Ownership Matter?

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  • Bircan, Çağatay

    (University of Michigan)

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between foreign equity participation and average wages at the plant level. I show that using a binary measure for foreign ownership, as is the traditional practice in the literature, leads to biased estimates of the foreign ownership wage premium, compared to the use of a continuous mea- sure if the true relationship is linear. Using nonparametric and semi-parametric techniques I find this is the case: the relationship between the level of foreign ownership and average wages is better approximated as linear rather than binary. I find that a ten percentage point increase in foreign equity participation is asso- ciated with an approximately 4% increase in the average wage of non-production workers. These results are the first to show that the wage premium due to foreign ownership varies with the level of foreign ownership in a continuous manner.

Suggested Citation

  • Bircan, Çağatay, 2011. "Foreign Direct Investment and Wages: Does the Level of Ownership Matter?," Working Papers 618, Research Seminar in International Economics, University of Michigan.
    • Handle: RePEc:mie:wpaper:618
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    2. Jumhur Tegep & Eddy Suratman & Sukma Indra, 2019. "The Failure of Foreign Direct Investment to Explain Unemployment Rate and the Mediating Role of Economic Growth and Minimum Wage," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 9(2), pages 154-161.
    3. Prabal K. De & Priya Nagaraj, 2013. "Cherry-Picking or Lemon-Grabbing? Investigating FDI in Indian Manufacturing Firms," Foreign Trade Review, , vol. 48(2), pages 219-231, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Foreign Direct Investment; Wages; Censoring; Dynamic Panel Data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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