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Much Ado About Nothing? Do Domestic Firms Really Benefit from Foreign Investment?

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Author Info
Görg, Holger
Greenaway, David

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Abstract

Many governments offer significant inducements to attract inward investment, motivated by the expectation of spillover benefits. This paper begins by reviewing possible sources of spillovers. It then provides a comprehensive evaluation of the empirical evidence on productivity, wages and exports spillovers in developing, developed and transitional economies. Although theory can identify a range of possible spillover channels, robust empirical support for positive spillovers is hard to find. The reasons for this are explored and the paper concludes with a review of policy aspects.

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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 3485.

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Date of creation: Aug 2002
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Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:3485

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Related research
Keywords: foreign direct investment; productivity spillovers; technology transfer;

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Find related papers by 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

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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Ville Kaitila, 2007. "Free Trade between the EU and Russia - Sectoral Effects and Impacts on Northwest Russia," Discussion Papers 1087, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy. [Downloadable!]
  2. Rachel Griffith & Stephen Redding & Helen Simpson, 2003. "Productivity Convergence and Foreign Ownership at the Establishment Level," CEP Discussion Papers dp0573, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. K Behrens & P M Picard, 2005. "Tax Competition, Location, and Horizontal Foreign Direct Investment," The School of Economics Discussion Paper Series 0517, Economics, The University of Manchester. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Wolfgang Keller & Stephen R. Yeaple, 2003. "Multinational Enterprises, International Trade, and Productivity Growth: Firm-Level Evidence from the United States," NBER Working Papers 9504, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Carlo Altomonte & Chiara Bonassi, 2004. "FDI, International Outsourcing and Linkages," CESPRI Working Papers 155, CESPRI, Centre for Research on Innovation and Internationalisation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy, revised Apr 2004. [Downloadable!]
  6. Carlo Altomonte & Enrico Pennings, 2005. "Testing for Marginal Spillovers from Foreign Direct Investment," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 05-101/4, Tinbergen Institute. [Downloadable!]
  7. Miguel León-Ledesma, 2005. "Exports, Product Differentiation and Knowledge Spillovers," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 363-379, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  8. Modén, Karl-Markus & Norbäck, Pehr-Johan & Persson, Lars, 2007. "Efficiency and Ownership Structure – The Case of Poland," Working Paper Series 703, Research Institute of Industrial Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Marcella Nicolini & Laura Resmini, 2006. "The Impact of Mnes on Domestic Firms in CEECS: A Micro-Econometric Approach," ERSA conference papers ersa06p411, European Regional Science Association. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  10. David Sapsford & David Griffiths, 2003. "Foreign direct investment in Mexico," Working Papers 000054, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department. [Downloadable!]
  11. Stefanie A. Haller, 2005. "The Impact of Multinational Entry on Domestic Market Structure and R&D," Economics Working Papers ECO2005/16, European University Institute. [Downloadable!]
  12. Narula,Rajneesh & Portelli,Brian, 2004. "Foreign direct investment and economic development: Opportunities and limitations from a developing country perspective," Research Memoranda 009, Maastricht : MERIT, Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology. [Downloadable!]
  13. Keller, Wolfgang & Yeaple, Stephen R, 2003. "Multinational Enterprises, International Trade and Productivity Growth: Firm-Level Evidence from the US," CEPR Discussion Papers 3805, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Sourafel Girma, & Holger Görg, 2003. "Foreign direct investmant, spillovers and absorptive capacity: Evidence from quantile regressions," The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series iiisdp01, IIIS. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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