Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-2015
Publication Title
Journal of International Economics
Volume
97
Abstract
To examine the effect of foreign direct investment, this paper compares the post-acquisition performance changes of foreign- and domestic-acquired firms in China. Unlike previous studies, we investigate the purified effect of foreign ownership by using domestic-acquired firms as the control group. After controlling for the acquisition effect that exists in domestic acquisitions, we find no evidence that foreign ownership can bring additional productivity gains to target firms, though both foreign and domestic acquisitions bring productivity improvements to target firms. In contrast, a strong and robust finding is that foreign ownership significantly improves target firms' financial conditions and exports relative to domestic-acquired firms. Foreign acquisition is also found to improve output, employment and wages for target firms. These findings conflict with the conventional view of productivity-driven FDI and highlight the financial channel through which FDI benefits the host countries.
Issue
2
First Page
325
Last Page
338
DOI
10.1016/j.jinteco.2015.07.006
ISSN
0022-1996
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Xiao Wang and Jian Wang. "Benefits of foreign ownership: Evidence from foreign direct investment in China" (2015). Economics & Finance Faculty Publications. 13.
https://commons.und.edu/ef-fac/13