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Is Foreign Direct Investment a Channel of Knowledge Spillovers? Evidence from Japan's FDI in the United States

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  • Lee Branstetter

Abstract

Recent empirical work has examined the extent to which international trade fosters international spillovers' of technological information. FDI is an alternate, potentially equally important channel for the mediation of such knowledge spillovers. I introduce a framework for measuring international knowledge spillovers at the firm level, and I use this framework to directly test the hypothesis that FDI is a channel of knowledge spillovers for Japanese multinationals undertaking direct investments in the United States. Using an original firm-level data set on Japanese firms' FDI and innovative activity find evidence that FDI increases the flow of knowledge spillovers both from and to the investing Japanese firms.

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  • Lee Branstetter, 2000. "Is Foreign Direct Investment a Channel of Knowledge Spillovers? Evidence from Japan's FDI in the United States," NBER Working Papers 8015, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:8015
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    JEL classification:

    • F2 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business
    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights

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