Research On The Impact Of China's OFDI Reverse Technology Spillover On The Total Factor Productivity

In recent years,with the launch of the Belt and Road initiative,a wave of investment boom has set off and Chinese enterprises are massively "going global".With the rapid growth of outward foreign direct investment,Chinese enterprises actively participated in international division,accumulated knowledge of advanced technology and managerial experience in the relatively mature industrialized countries,and enhanced the technical level and competitiveness of enterprises in China.In this context,the impact of the OFDI on firm productivity deserves further study.Based on the theory of outward foreign direct investment and China's reality,this dissertation establishes the framework and mechanism of the impact of reverse technology spillover on the TFP.In order to broadly investigate the "productivity effect" of firms' outward foreign direct investments,we conduct an empirical study by using Chinese industrial firm-level micro data from 2003 to 2013,to examine the relationship between the OFDI and the total factor productivity.According to the international R&D spillover regression approach,the reverse technology spillovers are calculated.Then we calculate the TFP with the OP approach for benchmark analysis,and use the LP and OLS approaches for robustness test.We find that the OFDI significantly enhances enterprise productivity.On this basis,we differentiate these companies according to the regions and ownership,and then once again confirm that the OFDI has a significant impact on the improvement of enterprise productivity.Through the theoretical and empirical analysis,the major results can be concluded as follows: First of all,outward foreign direct investment of enterprises has significantly promoted the total factor productivity.Enterprise absorptive capacity,host country's technological level and corporate investment motivation are important mechanisms which affect the reverse technology spillover on total factor productivity of enterprises.Besides,there is a lagging effect on promoting productivity.Foreign direct investment has a short-term impact on the firm productivity,but this effect is not evident in the long run.Finally,with the objective situation in China,policy suggestions are put forward from both micro and macro perspectives,on how Chinese firm's overseas investments can better promote technological progress.