Research On The Influencing Factors Of Outward Foreign Direct Investment And Its Impact On Export

International direct investment and international trade are the two most important aspects of international economic activities,and they are important forces driving the economic development of countries around the world.The development of economic globalization has made the connection between intellectual property rights(IPR)and international investment and international trade more and more closely.At present,the world is experiencing profound shifts unseen in a century and the COVID-19 pandemic.With the increasingly complex international economic and trade environment,China faces more challenges than ever in outward foreign direct investment(OFDI)and exports.Based on the perspective of intellectual property rights protection,this thesis studies the influencing factors of OFDI and the impact of OFDI on export scale and quality.The main contents of this thesis are organized as follows.First,extending investment development path theory,this thesis examines the influence of foreign direct investment(FDI)and migration on OFDI,the moderating effects of IPR protection on the relationship between FDI and OFDI,and the relationship between migration and OFDI.Using the panel data of 85 countries from 2006 to 2018 and two-way fixed effects regression methods,the results of this thesis show that,globally,FDI positively affects OFDI and that the positive effect of FDI on OFDI is strengthened by the improvement of IPR protection.Migration negatively affects OFDI,and the influence of IPR protection on the relationship between migration and OFDI is not statistically significant.The study shows that in high-income countries,FDI positively affects OFDI,and IPR protection positively moderates the relationship between FDI and OFDI.For upper-middle-income countries,FDI positively affects OFDI,and IPR protection negatively moderates the relationship between FDI and OFDI.For lower-middle-and low-income countries,the influence of FDI on OFDI is not statistically significant.Moreover,the influence of migration on OFDI is not significant in high-or upper-middle-income countries.For lower-middle-and lowincome countries,migration negatively affects OFDI,and IPR protection positively moderates the relationship between migration and OFDI.Therefore,policymakers should take measures to attract more high-quality FDI and emigrants back to their home country.In addition,while attaching importance to IPR protection,policymakers should also formulate differentiated IPR protection policies according to their country’s stage of economic development.Second,based on the four motivations of OFDI in eclectic paradigm,this thesis studies the influence of OFDI on export scale and the moderating effect of the difference in IPR protection between the home and the host country on the relationship between OFDI and export scale,and provides empirical evidence from the “China-host Country” perspective.Using the panel data of 75 countries and regions from 2006 to 2019 and system GMM,we find that China’s OFDI positively effects export scale and that the positive effect of OFDI on export scale is weakened by the increase of difference in IPR protection between China and the host country.The regression results of host countries are classified according to the level of development show that China’s OFDI in developed countries and developing countries positively effects export scale.The difference in IPR protection between China and developed countries negatively moderates the relationship between OFDI and export scale,and the difference in IPR protection between China and developing countries on the relationship between OFDI and export scale is not statistically significant.Therefore,policymakers should take measures to encourage firms to “go global”,and firms should focus on investment opportunities in countries with similar strength of IPR protection to China.In addition,policymakers should narrow the differences in IPR protection between China and developed countries by strengthening IPR protection and take measures to reduce the IPR risks faced by firms investing in developing countries.Finally,based on OFDI theory of emerging economies,this thesis studies the influence of OFDI on the export sophistication of the home country and the moderating effect of IPR protection of the home country on the relationship between OFDI and export sophistication.This thesis uses a panel dataset of emerging economies over the 2009-2017 period and dynamic panel threshold regression method for empirical testing.We find that OFDI from emerging economies to developed economies positively effects export sophistication of the home country,and OFDI from emerging economies to developing economies negatively effects export sophistication of the home country.Meanwhile,the influence of OFDI on export sophistication has a single threshold effect of IPR protection.When IPR protection is higher than the threshold value,the positive effect of OFDI from emerging economies to developed economies on export sophistication is strengthened,and the negative effect of OFDI from emerging economies to developing economies on export sophistication is weakened.Therefore,policymakers should take measures to support firms investing abroad and strengthen IPR protection at home.