Knowledge-capital Model Research Articles

Institutional quality, the level of development and Japanese outward foreign direct investment

This paper studies the determinants of Japanese direct investment worldwide and in different country groups. We derive our research hypotheses from the Knowledge-Capital Model and test them empirically using the PPML model and statistical data for 179 target countries between 1995 and 2019. We examine the role of a host’s institutional quality in affecting the cost of FDI. We show that institutional quality matters in attracting Japanese FDI for developed, developing, and transitioning economies. We find the effect of institutional quality to be more pronounced in the latter group of countries, especially concerning industries characterized by high asset-specificity.

Institutional quality and inward FDI: empirical evidence from GCC economies

ABSTRACT This paper studies the determinants of inward foreign direct investment (FDI) across the Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) countries between 2009 and 2017 using a modified knowledge-capital model of the multinational firm. In particular, we investigate the importance of institutional quality factors. We document the significant effects of institutional characteristics such as government effectiveness, control of corruption, political stability and rule of law, while regulatory quality was found to be less important. Moreover, our study finds that the GCC countries’ FDI can be explained by horizontal market seeking rather than efficiency-seeking vertical motives. Finally, the extended specification results highlight the significant effects of colonial relationships, common language and contiguity.

Testing an Extended Knowledge-Capital Model of Foreign Direct Investment

Testing an Extended Knowledge-Capital Model of Foreign Direct Investment

European Integration and International M&As: The Case of Poland

This paper studies determinants of international mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in Poland using the predictions of the knowledge capital model of multinational enterprise. The empirical implementation of the theory is based on the negative binomial model and the bilateral dataset covering 143 countries over the period 1995–2015. Our estimation results indicate that M&As in Poland are explained by both differences in relative factor endowments and in market size which confirms the importance of both market seeking and efficiency seeking motives. Moreover, the efficiency seeking motive is losing its importance over time while the market seeking motive becomes more important.

Explaining the global landscape of foreign direct investment: Knowledge capital, gravity, and the role of culture and institutions

AbstractIn this paper, we empirically re‐assess the question which theoretical motives and empirical models are most suitable to explain global patterns of foreign direct investment (FDI). Compared with previous studies, we use bilateral FDI positions with a much more comprehensive coverage of emerging and developing economies, the IMF's Coordinated Direct Investment Statistics. We apply cross‐validation to assess the performance of the gravity model and the knowledge capital (KK) model and add cultural, institutional and financial factors, as suggested by different theories on FDI determinants. We find the gravity model to achieve the best theory‐consistent out‐of‐sample prediction, particularly when parameter heterogeneity of South and North FDI is allowed for. Controlling for surrounding market potential is important to recover the horizontal effect of the gravity model. Our finding that the gravity model for FDI performs well but requires some degree of parameter heterogeneity and the inclusion of surrounding market potential provides a clear baseline for future empirical studies of FDI determinants. Inclusion of institutional, cultural or financial factors seems less relevant and does not improve the model performance distinctly, although results for those variables are mostly in line with theoretical predictions.

Testing the Knowledge-Capital Model of Foreign Direct Investment: New Evidence

Testing the Knowledge-Capital Model of Foreign Direct Investment: New Evidence

Reverse FDI and knowledge-and-physical-capital model: empirical evidence from emerging economies

PurposeThe main aim of this paper is to verify whether the modern mainstream economic theory of multinational enterprise that explains foreign direct investment (FDI) from developed countries is also able to account for investment decisions of multinational enterprises (MNEs) from emerging economies.Design/methodology/approachUsing Knowledge-And-Physical-Capital (KAPC) model as an analytical framework and Poisson-pseudo maximum likelihood estimation technique, the authors identify determinants of FDI flows from emerging economies. The data set consists of 38 home and 134 host countries during the period 2000–2012. Empirical evidence supports high explanatory power of KAPC model. Further, compared with the earlier Knowledge-Capital (KC) model, results confirm the importance of physical capital.FindingsThe estimation results confirm the hypothesis that mainstream economic theory can explain FDI flows from the emerging economies by highlighting the roles of total market size, skilled-labor abundance, investment and trade costs and geographical distance between two countries.Research limitations/implicationsThis study casts doubt on the alternative way that the KAPC model suggests to distinguish between horizontal and vertical FDI. The argument that horizontal MNE headquarters would be relatively more abundant than vertical MNE headquarters in countries that are abundant in physical capital relative to skilled labor seems reasonable but the idea of variable specification in the estimated equation should be revised.Practical implicationsFirms should be allowed to move their resources freely into and out of specific activities, both internally and internationally across border. To reach that goal, governments of potential host countries can adopt several measures, most importantly remove restrictions on payments, transfers and capital transactions and open previously closed industries to welcome foreign investment. In addition, to improve investment climate in general, governments need to pay attention to enhancing security of property rights, regulating internal taxation (i.e. corporate income tax), guaranteeing adequacy of infrastructure, efficient functioning of finance and labor markets and fighting against corruption.Social implicationsThe location choice of emerging investors set priority on similarity in economic size, geographical and cultural proximity. It is because shared borders or common official languages would reduce information costs and enhance information flows. Also, investors consider horizontal FDI (with motivation to expand market demand) as one of main modes of entry into a foreign market and a substitute for export. Likewise, distance is often understood as an important investment friction.Originality/valueThe outstanding contribution is that the research has uncovered the positive and statistically significant effect of physical capital on FDI activity, which has not been discussed in the earlier KC model. However, at the same time, the study casts doubt on the KAPC model's argument that relative abundance in physical capital to skilled labor between two countries determines FDI types and suggests that this argument and its empirical model specification should be carefully reviewed.

Economic sentiment indicators and foreign direct investment: Empirical evidence from European Union countries

This paper studies the role of business sentiment in the decisions of multinational enterprises (MNEs) to undertake foreign direct investment (FDI) across European Union (EU) member states. Based on the knowledge-capital model, the study employs the Pseudo Poisson Maximum Likelihood (PPML) estimator and panel data to examine empirically the determinants of FDI across EU member states during the period 2003–2017. The empirical evidence suggests that better economic sentiment in an EU Member State induces MNEs to undertake FDI in that country, while worse economic sentiment in an EU member state motivates an MNE in that country to invest abroad.

BITs, Colony Ties, and Offshore Centers: The Case of United Kingdom Outward FDI

This paper empirically investigates the impact of bilateral investment treaties (BITs) on foreign direct investment (FDI) using data on British multinational firms’ outward FDI in a panel of 140 countries across 2009-2017. We apply the Knowledge-Capital model to demonstrate that BITs act as a market access mechanism to parent country multinational enterprises. Our core result confirms the negative impact of BIT membership on horizontal FDI in the host economy. This result is robust to changes in partner sample composition, hypothetical stock levels, and inclusion of trade policies. Our findings imply that factor cost advantages are unable to compensate for the adverse effect of BIT entry, which raises concerns regarding the potency of BIT-centered development policies.

Does withholding tax on interest limit international profit-shifting by FDI?

Research background: Poland is a significant recipient of intercompany loans as a part of foreign direct investment (FDI) debt instruments reported in the Balance of Payments. Most of them come from the developed West European countries ? Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Germany, and Belgium. Igan et al. (2020) confirm debt-based FDI inflows to emerging markets had a higher impact on the industries? growth in the pre-crisis period 1998?2007 than after (till 2010).
 Purpose of the article: We aim to identify withholding tax (WHT) impact on intercorporate loans inflow to Poland and analyse the relationship between trade credit and intercompany loans to assess the importance of the profit-shifting role of FDI after 2010.
 Methods: To reflect the impact of withholding tax and trade credit on inter-company loans (inward debt-based FDI) in 2011?2017 to Poland, we use Arellano-Bond and random effects panel model estimators. The estimated specification is derived from the knowledge-capital model and includes two types of capital: human and physical.
 Findings & value added: We show that WHT on interests reduces profit-shifting by multinational companies? intercompany lending to Poland. But intercompany loans are positively related to foreign trade credit. Unlike in the case of total FDI inward to Poland (Cieślik, 2019), we identified that vertically integrated multinational enterprises are more likely to provide loans to Polish firms. This study is the first to confirm that withholding tax of interests reduces international profit-shifting by FDI and to provide evidence on the relation-ship between foreign trade credit and intercompany loans provided by multi-national companies.

Determinants of German Direct Investment in CEE Countries

This paper studies the determinants of German direct investment in the Central and Eastern European countries during the period 1996–2016 using the augmented Knowledge Capital model to identify the main reasons for foreign direct investment (FDI). The empirical results show increasing multinational enterprise (MNE) activity with growth in country-size and with growing similarities of countries, which supports the horizontal reason for FDI; while the difference in the share of skilled labor force associated with the vertical reason has no effect. Furthermore, the estimation results show unimportance of trade costs to the foreign market and the significance of the distance between source and host countries.

Determinants of inward FDI in Ukraine: Does political stability matter?

AbstractThe main goal of this article is to study the determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Ukraine from 2013 to 2017 that includes the years of armed conflict. We adopt the Knowledge-Capital model as our analytical framework and extend it to include the effects that account for political stability and political regime. The research hypotheses obtained from this framework are verified using the Pseudo-Poisson Maximum Likelihood estimation technique and the bilateral panel data on direct investment stocks from 140 partner countries. Our empirical findings show that access to Ukraine's cheap labor force is the primary reason for inward FDI. Moreover, we find no direct relationship between the political events in Ukraine and the investment stock dynamics as the estimated parameters on the indices of democracy, autocracy, polity, and political stability show no statistical significance.

What drives bilateral foreign direct investment among Asian economies?

This study analyses the role of knowledge transfers via bilateral foreign direct investment (FDI) among 31 Asian economies. We make three distinct contributions to the literature on the drivers of FDI by: (1) applying the knowledge-capital model to FDI among Asian economies for the first time, using a comprehensive data set, and comparing it to an empirical gravity-type model of FDI; (2) conducting model selection tests to choose between alternative empirical specifications and estimation methods; and (3) modelling both the FDI participation decision and the decision on the amount of FDI. The main findings are: (1) while vertical FDI, driven by seeking low-cost unskilled labour, appears to be the dominant type of intra-Asian FDI, overall the knowledge-capital model is not supported by the data; and (2) conventional gravity variables (e.g., size, distance, common language) provide a better explanation of intra-Asian FDI and, therefore, a more suitable vehicle for future research.

How does BREXIT affect production patterns of multinational enterprises?

This paper explores how the British exit from the European Union (EU) potentially affects the United Kingdom (UK) economy and the production patterns of multinational enterprises that choose the UK as either a destination market or a gateway to the EU market. Utilizing an extended version of the knowledge-capital model, which includes six types of firms and four countries grouped into market and non-market, simulation analysis reveals that efforts to enhance attractiveness of the UK as a destination market to increase horizontal-type inward foreign direct investment would be a solution to cover losses from reduction in the number of export-platforms.

Determinants of foreign direct investment from OECD countries in Poland

In the last two decades, Poland became an important recipient of foreign direct investment most of which comes from the developed West European countries. This study uses panel data analysis to empirically examine the determinants of multinational activity of firms from the OECD member states in Poland during the period 1996–2015. The model’s estimated empirical specification is based on the modified knowledge-capital model of the multinational enterprise that includes two types of capital: human and physical. Our empirical evidence points to the vertical motive as the primary reason for undertaking foreign direct investment in Poland by multinational firms based in the OECD member states.

Estimating the Knowledge Capital Model for Foreign Investment in Services: The Case of Singapore

Singapore’s inward and outward investments with industrialized countries in both manufacturing and service sectors were skill seeking while outward investments to developing countries were labor seeking. Applying the Knowledge-Capital model, it was found that services Foreign Direct Investment is sensitive to skill differences. A ten percent decline in skill differences with industrialized countries resulted in a 4.25 percent rise in inbound manufacturing and 1.48 percent rise in inbound services investments. Meanwhile, a ten-percent increase in skill differences with developing countries resulted in a 30 percent rise in outbound manufacturing and 0.38 percent rise in services investments. Furthermore, when services are distinguished by skill-intensity, the impact of relative skill endowments on inbound Foreign Direct Investment in skill-intensive services is significantly different from the impact on other services. However, when services are disaggregated by “proximity” needs, we do not find any significant difference in the impact of relative skill endowments on Foreign Direct Investment.

Estimating the Knowledge Capital Model for Foreign Investment in Services: The Case of Singapore

Singapore’s inward and outward investments with industrialized countries in both manufacturing and service sectors were skill seeking while outward investments to developing countries were labor seeking. Applying the Knowledge-Capital model, it was found that services Foreign Direct Investment is sensitive to skill differences. A tenpercent decline in skill differences with industrialized countries resulted in a 4.25 percent rise in inbound manufacturing and 1.48 percent rise in inbound services investments. Meanwhile, a ten-percent increase in skill differences with developing countries resulted in a 30 percent rise in outbound manufacturing and 0.38 percent rise in services investments. Furthermore, when services are distinguished by skill-intensity, the impact of relative skill endowments on inbound Foreign Direct Investment in skill-intensive services is significantly different from the impact on other services. However, when services are disaggregated by “proximity” needs, we do not find any significant difference in the impact of relative skill endowments on Foreign Direct Investment.

Determinants of outward FDI from emerging economies

Research background: The last four decades have witnessed an upsurge of multi-nationals from emerging markets alongside a narrowed gap in growth prospects between developed and emerging economies. UNCTAD statistics show that FDI flows from emerging economies have gone steady since 1980 and occupied more than one fifth of global FDI stock in 2015. Japan led the reverse FDI trend when it started to invest abroad in the 1960s and 1970s. Two decades later, in the 1980s-1990s, the reverse FDI trend was continued by so-called Asian tigers, then recently by those rapidly-industrializing economies in Southeast Asia as well as China and India in East and South Asia.
 Purpose of the article: The main goal of this paper is to contribute empirically to the study of the determinants of FDI outflows from emerging economies.
 Methods: In order to derive empirically testable hypotheses this paper refers to theoretical Knowledge-Capital model developed by Markusen (2002). The model is estimated using the Poisson-Pseudo Maximum Likelihood estimation technique. The specific research hypotheses derived from the theory are verified using a panel dataset of 38 home emerging countries and 134 host countries over the period 2001?2012.
 Findings & Value added: In this paper, we distinguish between horizontal and vertical reasons for FDI. Our estimation results support the hypothesis that main-stream theory of multinational enterprise can explain FDI flows from emerging economies, implying the significant roles of total market size, skilled-labor abundance, investment cost, trade cost as well as geographical distance between two countries.

The Impact of ASEAN-Korea Free Trade Agreement on Foreign Direct Investment

This paper aims to analyze and examine the impact of ASEAN-Korea FTA on FDI flows into Korea and ASEAN countries to verify the economic validity of AKFTA. In order to analyze the impact of AKFTA on FDI, this study employs the knowledge-capital model by considering industrial development stages of countries. This study conducts panel data (2001-2012) analysis to alleviate unobserved heterogeneity and multicollinearity. The results show that the AKFTA 2006 Goods Agreement has a statistically negative effect on FDI in the member countries, while the AKFTA 2009 Investment Agreement has a positive impact on FDI in the member countries.

MNE Activity in Poland: Horizontal, Vertical or Both?

ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to validate empirically the theoretical predictions of the knowledge capital model of multinational enterprise and identify the reasons for undertaking international production in Poland. This model allows taking into account both horizontal and vertical reasons for foreign direct investment (FDI). The empirical implementation of the theoretical framework is based on the negative binomial model and the bilateral dataset covering 143 countries over the period 1995–2015 which yields a total of 3003 observations. In contrast to previous studies the actual data on differences in human capital per worker that come from the most recent edition of PennWorld Table 9.0 are employed as the measures of differences in relative factor endowments. The empirical evidence confirms the predictions of the knowledge capital model and points to the horizontal as well as vertical motives for undertaking FDI in Poland. In particular, our estimation results show that MNE activity in Poland is related to both differences in relative factor endowments and in market size which confirms the importance of both reasons for undertaking FDI in Poland. However, these reasons are different for different groups of parent countries.