Multinational Enterprises, International Trade, and Productivity Growth: Firm-Level Evidence From the United States

December 1, 2003

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Stephen R. Yeaple, and Wolfgang Keller. Multinational Enterprises, International Trade, and Productivity Growth: Firm-Level Evidence From the United States, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2003) accessed September 20, 2024

Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary

We estimate international technology spillovers to U.S. manufacturing firms via imports and foreign direct investment (FDI) between 1987 and 1996. In contrast to earlier work, our results suggest that FDI leads to substantial productivity gains for domestic firms. The size of FDI spillovers is economically important, accounting for about 11 percent of productivity growth in U.S. firms between 1987 and 1996. In addition, there is some evidence for import-related spillovers, but it is weaker than for FDI spillovers. The paper also gives a detailed account of why our study leads to results different from those found in previous work. This analysis indicates that our results are also likely to apply to other countries and periods.

Subject: Balance of payments, Financial sector policy and analysis, Foreign direct investment, Imports, International trade, Production, Productivity, Spillovers, Total factor productivity

Keywords: FDI activity, FDI growth, FDI share, FDI spillover, FDI variable, Firm hire, Foreign direct investment, Imports, Industry FDI, International trade, Market share, Productivity, Productivity difference, Spillover effect, Spillovers, Technology spillovers, Technology transfer, TFP growth, TFP measure, Total factor productivity, Unobserved industry characteristic, WP

Publication Details

Pages:

40
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 2003/248
Stock No:

WPIEA2482003
ISBN:

9781451875898
ISSN:

1018-5941

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