Sister-city Ties and Chinese Outward Foreign Direct Investment:A Spatial Econometric Analysis

This paper employs dynamic spatial econometric methods to analyze the impact of the sister-city relationship on Chinese outward foreign direct investment(OFDI)using a linked country-level dataset from 2003 to 2016.The results show strong and robust evidence that the sister-city relationship has been a crucial OFDI location determinant in host countries and their neighbors.Specifically,the sister-city tie between China and the host country has stimulated Chinese OFDI in host countries.Moreover,Chinese OFDI in host countries would be reduced if China concluded sister-city ties with their neighbors to which we refer as the neighboring effect.Further mechanism tests show that sister cities have promoted OFDI in host countries via four channels:reducing political risk,decreasing information asymmetry,narrowing institutional distance,and mitigating cultural differences.This tendency for sister-city links to promote OFDI has varied substantially depending on OFDI entry modes(i.e.,greenfield or cross-border mergers and acquisitions),motivation(i.e.,resource-,market-,technology-,or efficiency-oriented OFDI),and Sino–foreign geographical relationships(i.e.,Belt and Road Initiative countries or other countries).