Impact of China’s outward foreign direct investment on environmental pollution in the home country

In the context of economic globalization and increasingly tight resource and environmental constraints,the environmental effect of open economy has been highly concerned by the academic community.With the implementation of the“Going Global”campaign and the“Belt and Road Initiative”,China’s OFDI has been expanding.What is the impact of the rapid growth of OFDI on the home environment?How can China improve the quality and level of OFDI in order to promote domestic green development under the dual context of constructing a new dual circulation development pattern and advocating green development?These questions deserve further discussion.Most of the existing literature focuses on the empirical interpretation of OFDI’s home country environmental effect by using linear models,while few involve nonlinear models.The literature on the important role of financial development in home country and the threshold effect of OFDI on home country environment is even less common.In view of this,based on the mechanism of argumentation and propositional inference,this paper calculated the environmental pollution index of 30 provinces in China from 2003 to 2017 by using China’s provincial panel data of these years and selecting industrial waste water,industrial waste gas,industrial SO_(2),and industrial soot emissions and industrial solid waste production amount index.Then,this paper empirically studied China's OFDI home environment of financial development threshold effect by constructing financial development as the threshold variables panel threshold model.The results showed that:①China’s OFDI had a significant impact on the environment of the home country,based on the level of financial development of the home country.When China’s financial development level was lower than the first threshold value,China’s OFDI had a significant restraining effect on environmental pollution in the home country.When China’s financial development level crossed the first threshold value but did not exceed the second threshold value,China’s OFDI significantly enhanced its inhibiting effect on environmental pollution in its home country.When China’s financial development level was higher than the second threshold value,the inhibiting effect of China’s OFDI on environmental pollution in the home country was further enhanced.②In the sample period,the financial development level of most provinces in China was not high.Only a few provinces with high financial development level had a strong inhibiting effect on environmental pollution in their home country,and the provinces with a high degree of coupling and coordination between OFDI and financial development tended to have a low level of environmental pollution.Accordingly,this paper proposes to optimize the financial service environment of OFDI,improve the green technology content of OFDI,and strengthen the original innovation and re-innovation ability of green technology.

Environmental regulation,hidden economy,and China's outward foreign direct investment

The need to balance economic growth and its environmental impact continues to be a serious issue in China.As environmental regulation in China increases in importance,it is critical to understand how it impacts economic growth drivers such as outward foreign direct investment(OFDI)to formulate effective policies.One consideration should be the hidden economy,which can weaken the effects of environmental regulation on OFDI.This study investigates the scale of the hidden economy in 30 provinces and province-level municipalities in China in the period 2004 to 2015.The study uses the multiple indicators and multiple causes(MIMIC)model and the systematic generalized method of moments(GMM)test to analyze the impact of environmental regulation and the hidden economy on China's OFDI.The results show that stronger environmental regulation promotes OFDI.However,the hidden economy inhibits China's OFDI,as the positive effects of environmental regulation that drive OFDI are distorted.From a regional perspective,stronger environmental regulation promotes OFDI as well,while the hidden economy inhibits it.The interaction between environmental regulation and the hidden economy also inhibits it significantly.

China’s Outward Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Growth in Developing Countries

The implementation of China’s open development strategy has unveiled a wave of outward foreign direct investment(OFDI)by Chinese companies,with global implications.Based on panel data from 146 developing countries from 2003 to 2017,we investigate the growth effects of China’s OFDI.We find that China’s OFDI has promoted significant economic growth in developing countries.Not only could China’s OFDI increase GDP per capita of a country in a short time but raise the country’s long-run equilibrium value as well.In addition,the growth effects of China’s OFDI were more significant for countries with weak governance,rich resource,and modest human capital,and were above the average level for Belt and Road Initiative(BRI)countries,African countries,and in the post-crisis era.Our research helps unravel the global significance of Chinese companies investing overseas and contributes to research on the growth effects of direct investment between developing countries.

An Empirical Study on the Relationship Between the Scale of International Students from ASEAN and China’s Outward Foreign Direct Investment

With the further development of economic globalization since the establishment of ties between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN) 30 years ago and the continuous increase in the scale of international students in China,the training of international talents has become an important approach to avoiding the risks of transnational investments.We established panel data by selecting variables from the period 2006 to 2017,including the scale of international students coming from ASEAN to China,the gross amount of China’s outward foreign direct investment(OFDI),and the GDP per capita of ASEAN countries to further explore the correlations among these variables.We applied a panel-vector autoregressive(PVAR) model to conducting a Granger causality test,a Gaussian mixture model(GMM) regression analysis,a Monte Carlo-based impulse response analysis,and variance decomposition of the data.The results show that the growth of OFDI exerted an obvious positive impact on the inflow of international students from the countries along the Belt and Road(B&R) within a short period,the growth of the scale of international students coming from these countries to study in China had a strong positive effect on OFDI,the training of international talents was conducive to promoting the scale of transnational investments,but the overall quality was not very high,and its economic contribution rate was low.It is also found that OFDI and the scale of international students from the countries along the B&R promoted the GDP growth to a certain extent and the positive accumulation effect fluctuated due to external factors.Therefore,it is suggested to expanding the scale of OFDI and improving China’s core competitiveness in international student education.Intensive management of investment factors should also be conducted along with sound development of training mechanisms for international talents.

Impact of China＇s Outward Foreign Direct Investment on Its Regional Economic Growth

This paper investigates the impact of China＇s outward foreign direct investment （OFDI） on its economic growth. By using a provincial-level panel dataset and applying fixed- effects and instrumental variable regression techniques, the study finds that both OFDI from provincial firms and OFDI from state-owned enterprises have a positive impact on China＇s provincial economic growth. The positive impact of OFDI on provincial economic growth may be the result of reverse knowledge spillovers from OFDI to the home provincial economy through demonstration and imitation, labor movement, and backward and forward industrial linkages, thus increasing the productivity and the efficiency of home firms and promoting the growth of the home economy.

Does Outward Foreign Direct Investment Facilitate China’s Export Upgrading?

This paper empirically investigates the impact of China’s outward foreign direct investment(OFDI)on its export sophistication.Using a provincial-level panel dataset and applying fixed effects and instrumental variable regression techniques,the study finds that,on average,OFDI has no significant impact on China s export sophistication.However,after the full sample is divided into different regions,the study finds that OFDI has a positive and significant impact on export sophistication in the developed coastal region,but no such impact is observed in the less developed inland regions.Further investigation using a panel threshold model reveals that only when GDP,per capita GDP,human capital,and the research and development intensity of a home economy reach a certain level can OFDI promote export sophistication.The findings suggest that accelerating economic development and increasing absorptive capacity can facilitate the contribution of OFDI to China’s export sophistication.

Determinants of China’s outward foreign direct investment in Asia:a panel data analysis

This paper is an attempt to examine the trends and significant determinants of China’s outward foreign direct investment(OFDI)in Asia.In order to find out the important determinants of China’s OFDI in Asia,this study applies the panel data regression technique.The time period from 2006 to 2015 is taken into consideration.Econometric analysis has been done based on three data sets:the first includes 27 Asian countries/regions which attract Chinese OFDI.While Chinese Hong Kong is excluded from the sample,the second data set consists of 26 countries the same as those in data set one.The third data set comprises China’s top 12 destination countries of OFDI in Asia.The findings show that China’s OFDI has risen rapidly and secured the second rank globally,only behind the United States and surpassing Japan.For the first time,the flow of Chinese OFDI exceeded the level of inward foreign direct investment(IFDI),and Asia attracted a 74.4%share out of China’s total OFDI in 2015.The results reveal that inflation rate,export,import,corruption,infrastructure and geographic distance are the significant determinants of China’s investment in Asia.This paper provides new evidence on the determinants of China’s OFDI in Asia.By using currently available data of 27 Asian host countries,this paper offers a new insight into significant determinants of China’s OFDI in the region.

Financing Constraints and the Mode of Outward Foreign Direct Investment:Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions or Greenfield Investment

In this paper,two investment modes,greenfield investment and cross-border mergers and acquisitions,are introduced on the basis of Manova(2008),and it is found that enterprises with less financing constraints tend to choose cross-border mergers and acquisitions.Therefore,this paper takes Chinese industrial enterprises that conducted cross-border mergers and acquisitions and greenfield investment in 2003−2010 as examples to test the above hypothesis.The result shows that enterprises with lower financing constraints are more likely to choose cross-border mergers and acquisitions,while those with stronger constraints choose greenfield investment.More specifi cally,a 1%reduction in financing constraints raises the probability of choosing cross-border mergers and acquisitions by 2.51%.The authors also find that the influence of financing constraints varies under different investment motivation.For business service and production-related investment,enterprises with lower financing constraints tend to choose cross-border mergers and acquisitions;while for R&D investment,financing constraints have no impact on the choice of investment mode.

China’s foreign direct investment in BRICS countries:status,problems and prospects

The emerging economies,represented by the BRICS,have risen rapidly in post-crisis era in both economic development and national competitiveness.In order to ensure a stable and sustainable long-term development of national economy,the governments of BRICS countries have shown positive attitude to foreign direct investment.This is a great opportunity for China to increase its direct investment in these countries,which will not only provide strong support to China’s“going global”strategy,but also help avoid risks arising from intensive investment in its traditional investment regions.This article focuses on the status of Chinese outward direct investment in the BRICS countries by analyzing existing problems in investment process and providing forecast as well as future agenda on China’s direct investment in these countries.

Chinese Private Direct Investment and Overseas Chinese Network in Africa

Based on extensive interviews in China and in Africa over 2 years, the present paper investigates Chinese private direct investment in Africa. Drawing on the Swedish Uppsala model, we explore two mian issues. First, do Chinese private enterprises follow the linear mode to invest in Africa？ Second, if not, how do they go out and develop their investments, and who helps them overcome the obstacles to investing in Africa？ We find that very few Chinese private enterprises follow a linear internationalization process, and most depend on the local overseas Chinese network and other networks to facilitate their entry into the host market. The reason lies in that Chinese private enterprises are still at the early stage of internationalization. Entrepreneurship is one of the most important ownership advantages of Chinese private enterprises investing in Africa.

Influence of local environmental target constraints on enterprise OFDI

By collecting the environmental target constraints in the annual government work report of prefecture-level cities,this paper studies its impact on local enterprises’OFDI.The main conclusions are as follows:(1)Both direct and indirect constraints have a significant positive impact on enterprises’OFDI,and the degree of direct constraints is stronger than that of indirect constraints.(2)Environmental target constraints of local governments will affect corporate OFDI behavior by affecting production costs,local economic development level and local openness,and(3)There are regional heterogeneity and investment type heterogeneity in the impact of environmental goal constraints on corporate OFDI.The suggestions are as follows:government departments can appropriately strengthen the constraint intensity of environmental targets and formulate specific restraint rules for industries with different levels of pollution,so as to effectively make use of the technology spillover effects brought about by OFDI to promote the upgrading of domestic industrial structure.When making OFDI,enterprises should clarify the investment motivation,strengthen corporate social responsibility,and make use of technology spillover effect to promote the upgrading and development of home country industry while being beneficial to their own development.

Impact of host country's business environment on China's OFDI in Belt and Road countries:Based on the perspective of investment motives

This study used a two-step system generalized method of moments to examine the impact of the business environment in the Belt and Road countries on outward foreign direct investment(OFDI)of China while presenting a deeper investigation into the spatial characteristics of OFDI through a spatial error model.The results revealed that the impact mentioned above varies with different investment motivations.If Chinese businesses are motivated by local consumer markets or seeking a human workforce to make an outward direct investment,they will choose countries with poor business environments.They will select countries with stable business environments for their natural resources or strategic assets.Significant spatial agglomeration exists in China's OFDI in the countries and regions along the routes,while substantial evidence is absent on the business environment investment effect with different motivations.Finally,relevant recommen-dations concluded according to the study.

Earnings Management of Chinese Listed Multinational Corporations

This study evaluates the quality of accounting information provided by Chinese multinational corporations(MNCs)in relation to the issue of earnings management.Using a combined dataset of outward foreign direct investment and financial statements by Chinese firms publicly listed on A-share markets between 2012 and 2017,we investigate whether Chinese MNCs are more inclined to manage earnings.We discover that these firms exhibited significant earnings management behavior and typically adjusted their earnings downward.We demonstrate that these effects were more pronounced among private MNCs than state-owned firms,and in host countries with weaker institutional quality.Further research reveals that after delaying the confirmation of current earnings,Chinese MNCs received higher government subsidies,and this pattern was particularly prevalent among private MNCs.We find no evidence that Chinese MNCs manipulated earnings to avoid paying taxes.

Does Chinese OFDI really promote export?

Does Chinese outward foreign direct investment really promote export?Most papers have come to positive conclusions.Upon reviewing these papers,this paper contributes by correcting model misspecification,wrong variable selection and estimation methods which are prevalent in existing studies,and reexamines the relationship using panel data from 2003 to 2014.The results indicate that:on average,the point estimate of the elasticity between Chinese outward foreign direct investment and export trade is at most 0.073,and it’s not statistically significant.Sub-sample regressions show that,Chinese investment in developed economies slightly substitutes export while investment in developing economies complements export.But these effects disappear when country specific effects are controlled.Year-by-year regressions show that,the complementary effect of OFDI on export is on a steady rise.But if we take the regression coefficients and the quantitative difference between OFDI and export into consideration,the effect is indeed negligible.

Global production aspirations and internationalization by state-owned enterprises:A Co-evolutionary view of statedriven industrialized economy

The study aims to explore whether internationalization by state-owned enterprises is a curse or blessing in the context of aspirant industrial economies,such as China.What do state-owned enterprises'global production aspirations,such as outward foreign direct investment,bring into their home country?To answer this question,this study proposes a unique,co-evolutionary perspective of the state-driven industrialized economy by leveraging insights from economic discoveries such as Adam Smith's wealth of nations,David Ricardo's comparative advantage,and Michael Porter's competitive advantage.This view suggests that an outward foreign investment strategy may likely provide state-owned enterprises with access to resources and advanced production technologies,enhance innovation capabilities,gain more competitive advantage,and achieve superior performance,thus leading to spillover effects on their home country's wealth,comparative advantage,and competitiveness.This study discusses China's grand policies,economic performance,and successful cross-border industrial acquisitions.