IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/revint/v17y2022i3d10.1007_s11558-021-09436-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Behind the screen: Understanding national support for a foreign investment screening mechanism in the European Union

Author

Listed:
  • Zenobia T. Chan

    (Princeton University)

  • Sophie Meunier

    (Princeton University)

Abstract

What determines national preferences for institutionalizing foreign direct investment (FDI) screening? Over the past decade, advanced economies worldwide have tightened their national investment screening mechanisms (ISMs). In March 2019, the European Union (EU) adopted its first common FDI screening framework. This article explores variations in Member State preferences for the creation and nature of a pan-European screening framework. Based on extensive interviews with high-level EU and country officials involved in the negotiation process, and using a unique measure of national support for the EU-wide ISM created through the first-ever elite survey on this subject matter, we find that countries with higher technological levels were more supportive of FDI screening due to concerns over unreciprocated technological transfer. We also show the effects of Chinese FDI on country-level support for FDI screening sector-dependent. We found no evidence that total Chinese FDI predicts preferences for ISM. Instead, countries with high levels of Chinese FDI in strategic sectors are more likely to support the ISM, while those with high levels of Chinese investment in low-tech sectors tend to oppose screening. Our overall findings suggest that EU investment screening, and national-level screening in general, might become more restrictive in the future, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Suggested Citation

  • Zenobia T. Chan & Sophie Meunier, 2022. "Behind the screen: Understanding national support for a foreign investment screening mechanism in the European Union," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 513-541, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:revint:v:17:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s11558-021-09436-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s11558-021-09436-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11558-021-09436-y
    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/s11558-021-09436-y?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. Taylor, Karl & Driffield, Nigel, 2005. "Wage inequality and the role of multinationals: evidence from UK panel data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 223-249, April.
    2. Victor Chernozhukov & Denis Chetverikov & Mert Demirer & Esther Duflo & Christian Hansen & Whitney Newey & James Robins, 2018. "Double/debiased machine learning for treatment and structural parameters," Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 21(1), pages 1-68, February.
    3. Timothy Frye & Pablo M. Pinto, 2009. "The Politics of Chinese Investment in the US," Chapters, in: Karl P. Sauvant (ed.), Investing in the United States, chapter 4, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Romer, Paul, 1993. "Idea gaps and object gaps in economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 543-573, December.
    5. Paolo Figini & Holger Go¨rg, 2011. "Does Foreign Direct Investment Affect Wage Inequality? An Empirical Investigation," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(9), pages 1455-1475, September.
    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. Lenihan,Ashley Thomas, 2018. "Balancing Power without Weapons," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107181861.
    8. Sumei Tang & E. A. Selvanathan & S. Selvanathan, 2008. "Foreign Direct Investment, Domestic Investment and Economic Growth in China: A Time Series Analysis," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(10), pages 1292-1309, October.
    9. Kailei Wei & Shujie Yao & Aying Liu, 2009. "Foreign Direct Investment and Regional Inequality in China," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(4), pages 778-791, November.
    10. Pandya, Sonal S., 2010. "Labor Markets and the Demand for Foreign Direct Investment," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 64(3), pages 389-409, July.
    11. Erica Owen, 2013. "Unionization and Restrictions on Foreign Direct Investment," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(5), pages 723-747, November.
    12. Bauerle Danzman, Sarah, 2020. "Foreign direct investment policy, domestic firms, and financial constraints," Business and Politics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(2), pages 279-306, June.
    13. Paolo Figini & Holger Görg, 1999. "Multinational companies and wage inequality in the host country: The case of Ireland," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 135(4), pages 594-612, December.
    14. Buch, Claudia M. & Lipponer, Alexander, 2010. "Volatile multinationals? Evidence from the labor demand of German firms," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 345-353, April.
    15. Sophie Meunier & Kalypso Nicolaidis, 2019. "The Geopoliticization of European Trade and Investment Policy," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(S1), pages 103-113, September.
    16. Bitzer, Jürgen & Kerekes, Monika, 2008. "Does foreign direct investment transfer technology across borders? New evidence," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 100(3), pages 355-358, September.
    17. Parantap Basu & Chandana Chakraborty & Derrick Reagle, 2003. "Liberalization, FDI, and Growth in Developing Countries: A Panel Cointegration Approach," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 41(3), pages 510-516, July.
    18. Dierk Herzer & Philipp Hühne & Peter Nunnenkamp, 2014. "FDI and Income Inequality—Evidence from Latin American Economies," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(4), pages 778-793, November.
    19. Basu, Parantap & Guariglia, Alessandra, 2007. "Foreign Direct Investment, inequality, and growth," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 824-839, December.
    20. Alfaro, Laura & Chanda, Areendam & Kalemli-Ozcan, Sebnem & Sayek, Selin, 2010. "Does foreign direct investment promote growth? Exploring the role of financial markets on linkages," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 242-256, March.
    21. Kenneth Scheve & Matthew J. Slaughter, 2004. "Economic Insecurity and the Globalization of Production," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 48(4), pages 662-674, October.
    22. Chilton, Adam S. & Milner, Helen V. & Tingley, Dustin, 2020. "Reciprocity and Public Opposition to Foreign Direct Investment," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 50(1), pages 129-153, January.
    23. Sophie Meunier, 2017. "Integration by Stealth: How the European Union Gained Competence over Foreign Direct Investment," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 593-610, May.
    24. Pablo M. Pinto & Santiago M. Pinto, 2008. "The Politics Of Investment Partisanship: And The Sectoral Allocation Of Foreign Direct Investment," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(2), pages 216-254, 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. Sarah Bauerle Danzman & Sophie Meunier, 2023. "Naïve no more: Foreign direct investment screening in the European Union," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 14(S3), pages 40-53, July.

    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. Silvio Traverso & Guido Bonatti, 2015. "Education and FDI: An Insight from US Outflows," Journal of Social Economics, Research Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 2(3), pages 101-116.
    2. Chiara Franco & Giovanni Marin & Filomena Pietrovito, 2023. "Exposure to FDI and attitudes towards multinational enterprises: Do M&A matter?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(6), pages 1648-1669, June.
    3. Wang, Hao & Fidrmuc, Jan & Luo, Qi, 2021. "A spatial analysis of inward FDI and urban–rural wage inequality in China," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 45(3).
    4. Stefan Jestl & Sandra M. Leitner & Sebastian Leitner, 2022. "The relative impact of different forces of globalization on wage inequality: A fresh look at the EU experience," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 1003-1037, September.
    5. Dierk Herzer & Peter Nunnenkamp, 2013. "Inward and outward FDI and income inequality: evidence from Europe," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 149(2), pages 395-422, June.
    6. Imran Khan & Zuhaba Nawaz & Bilal Bin Saeed, 2021. "Does trade openness and FDI reduce inequality? Evidence from South Asia," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 6459-6470, October.
    7. repec:agr:journl:v:1(618):y:2019:i:1(618):p:73-88 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Lessmann, Christian, 2013. "Foreign direct investment and regional inequality: A panel data analysis," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 129-149.
    9. Olabode Philip Olofin & Oluwole Oladipo Aiyegbusi & Abayomi Ayinla Adebayo, 2019. "Analysis of Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Growth in Nigeria: Application of Spatial Econometrics and Fully Modified Ordinary Least Square (FMOLS)," Foreign Trade Review, , vol. 54(3), pages 159-176, August.
    10. Wai Choi Lee & Tsun Se Cheong & Yanrui Wu & Jianxin Wu, 2019. "The Impacts of Financial Development, Urbanization, and Globalization on Income Inequality: A Regression-based Decomposition Approach," Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, vol. 18(2), pages 126-141, Summer.
    11. Seng Sothan, 2017. "Causality between foreign direct investment and economic growth for Cambodia," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 1277860-127, January.
    12. Kouassi YEBOUA, 2019. "Human capital and the FDI-Income inequality nexus in African countries: Panel smooth transition regression approach," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania - AGER, vol. 0(1(618), S), pages 73-88, Spring.
    13. Dierk Herzer & Philipp Hühne & Peter Nunnenkamp, 2014. "FDI and Income Inequality—Evidence from Latin American Economies," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(4), pages 778-793, November.
    14. Masron, tajul & Mohd Nor, Abu Hassan Shaari, 2016. "Foreign Investment in Real Estate and Housing Affordability," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 50(1), pages 15-28.
    15. Bruno Decreuse & Paul Maarek, 2015. "FDI and the Labor Share in Developing Countries : A Theory and Some Evidence," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 119-120, pages 289-319.
    16. Dinuk Jayasuriya, 2011. "Improvements in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Rankings: Do they translate into greater foreign direct investment inflows?," Development Policy Centre Discussion Papers 1108, Development Policy Centre, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    17. Paolo Figini & Holger Go¨rg, 2011. "Does Foreign Direct Investment Affect Wage Inequality? An Empirical Investigation," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(9), pages 1455-1475, September.
    18. Hrushikesh Mallick & Mantu Kumar Mahalik & Hemachandra Padhan, 2020. "Does globalization exacerbate income inequality in two largest emerging economies? The role of FDI and remittances inflows," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 67(4), pages 443-480, December.
    19. Antonio Martuscelli & Michael Gasiorek, 2019. "Regional Integration And Poverty: A Review Of The Transmission Channels And The Evidence," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 431-457, April.
    20. Cohle, Zachary & Ortega, Alberto, 2022. "Life of the party: The polarizing effect of foreign direct investment," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    21. Hye‐Sung Kim & Youngchae Lee & Scott Huffmon, 2022. "Public opinion on U.S. investment in foreign countries: Survey evidence from 11 southern states in the United States," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 103(5), pages 1113-1124, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    China; Europe; European Union; FDI; Investment; Screening;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • F52 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - National Security; Economic Nationalism
    • F55 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - International Institutional Arrangements

    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:revint:v:17:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s11558-021-09436-y. 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.