美国对外直接投资:中国是一个特别的目的地吗?

US Outward FDI: Is China a Special Host Country?

本文关注了在美国对外投资目的地中,中国是否具有特殊性。利用2002-2012年美国对156个国家的直接投资展开实证分析,结果表明,美国对华投资整体上没有明显偏离应有规模。在制造业领域,甚至有部分证据显示美国对华投资高于应有水平。与其他国家相比,在中国,市场规模、经济发展水平、经济增长、开放度等更有力地促进了制造业领域美资的流入,但治理层面的差异等则相对是一个制约性因素。与制造业领域吸引美资的成效形成对照的是,服务业的美资利用还有改善的空间。结合这些研究发现,就美国对中国投资看似偏低的判断,我们有两个解释:一方面,那就是只看到市场规模、经济发展水平、经济增长、开放度等引力因素,而忽略地理距离、治理水平和文化差异等制约性因素;另一方面,服务业的美资利用潜力还没有充分释放出来,对整体的美资利用产生了一些影响。

This paper investigates whether China is a special host country of US FDI. We rely on the data of USdirect investment in 156 countries and carry out empirical studies. The estimation results show that,as a whole,US FDI in China did not deviate from the should-be value. In the manufacturing sector,there is evidence in-dicating that US investment in China was above the should-be value. With comparison to other countries,inChina,market size,level of economic development,economic growth and trade openness promote more US FDIin the manufacturing sector. However,institutional distance prevents US FDI entering the manufacturing sectormore strongly in China than in other countries. Compared to the manufacturing sector,the service sector in Chi-na should do a little more to improve US FDI. Based on these research findings,we believe that there are tworeasons why US FDI in China seemed lower than the should-be value. On the one hand,the promoting factorslike market size,level of economic development,economic growth and trade openness are always emphasized.However,the preventing factors like geographical distance,institutional distance and cultural distance are usu-ally neglected. On the other hand,the potential of the service sector in attracting US FDI has not been fully re-alized,which leads to a negative impact on the total US FDI.