文档介绍：The Absence of Technology Spillovers from
Foreign Direct Investment in Transition
Economies
Jutta Gilnther
Contents
1 Introduction 150
2 Channels of Technology Spillovers - the View of Contemporary
Economic Literature 152
3 Spillover Channels - Towards a Consistent Theoretical Framework 153
Spillovers as External Effects 153
Spillovers through Cooperation 154
Special Case: Competition Effects 155
4 Results of Econometric Studies on Technology Spillovers in Transition
Economies 156
5 Obstacles to Technology Spillovers on the Enterprise Level 159
6 Conclusions 161
Appendix 162
References 164
150 JuttaGunther
1 Introduction
The worldwide increase of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the past decades has
given rise to numerous studies investigating the economic effects of FDI on the
host economies. One frequently analyzed issue is that of technology transfer via
foreign subsidiaries. Apart from the direct transfer of modem equipment and
know-how from the pany to the foreign subsidiary, especially the
trickle down or spillover effects from foreign subsidiaries in favor of domestic
firms caught researchers' attention. These spillover effects are expected to posi•
tively contribute to domestic firm's productivity. Consequently, spillover effects
are of interest particularly for countries or regions in the process of catching up
economically.
Existing empirical studies on technology spillovers usually apply an economet•
ric approach in which labor (or total factor) productivity is regressed on a number
of independent variables. To measure spillovers, single variables are included in
order to serve as proxy for the presence of foreign firms, usually the share of em•
ployment or sales in foreign subsidiaries in total industry employment or sales.^ A
large number of econometric spillover studies exists for developing countries, the
results of which, however, differ considerably.^ Recently