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This paper compares the paths of development taken by China and Malaysia in their attempts to pursue catching-up. While both China and Malaysia rely to a large extent on attracting foreign direct investment, China has, since its economic liberalisation in the late 1970s, implemented a more proactive set of industrial policy to embed foreign know-how and promote domestic technological deepening. This is illustrated through a comparison of the evolution of the Chinese and Malaysian semiconductor (upstream) industry. Although their progress remains tentative at this stage, China seems to be showing more concrete signs of technological and industrial sophistication than Malaysia. Such mastery is a useful platform for Chinese firms to progressively climb the technological ladder and to capture more value from the production and sales of increasingly complex goods and services. The principles discussed in this paper provide policy lessons, or at least some initial guidance, for other developing economies aspiring to move up the value chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multilateral organizations are taking attention toward foreign divestment; they are in practice to shift toward a large number of host countries from their home countries. In this paper, the significant role of FDI divestment in the development of the economy has been discussed. The role and contribution of FDI divestment in emerging economies have been discussed. The study employs qualitative descriptive analysis to address the determinants of FDI divestment operated by the emerging economies specifically in China. The study is based on economic reports, official documents, and data directly related to the subject of the study. The role and contribution of FDI divestment to develop a strong corporate sector are elaborated in this paper. Furthermore, the role of FDI divestment in reforming organizations and their sustainable growth with the support of evidence has been discussed. Issues regarding FDI divestment faced by different stakeholders have been explained in this research. Inflows and outflows of FDI divestment with cause and effect have been discussed in this paper. Additionally, this study examined the role of multilateral organizations to convince emerging economies by improving their divestment approach. In global strategy formulation FDI divestment consider as a significant aspect. It is observed, that this aspect of the strategy is still untouched in the field of international business and business academies. This study is specifically in the context of China with under consideration of other developed economies. This study investigates the encouraging factors for growing economies to formulate their divestment policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More and more Chinese enterprises have participated in the Belt and Road initiative (BRI) since its launch in 2013. However, have they all actually benefited? Which companies otherwise have benefited most from the plan? To answer these questions, this paper analyzes the impact of the BRI on Chinese enterprises. Among several findings, it reveals that the performance of companies remained low even though the initiative policy initially stimulated performance, the performance of enterprises depends on the geographical location of enterprises and that the returns of China's outward foreign direct investment in various industries became more volatile with only the mining industry enjoying better returns. Thus, the paper shows that the BRI offers Chinese enterprises opportunities but also brings challenges for companies to optimize the allocation of their resources and improve the performance of their investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the characteristics and mechanisms of cultural diversity that affect foreign direct investment (FDI) using the panel data on provinces in China from 1999 to 2019 and find that, in general, cultural diversity inhibits FDI absorption. However, this kind of adverse effect has a nonlinear threshold characteristic. That is, when the population density reaches a certain level or urbanization is controlled within a certain range, the increase in cultural diversity can weaken the inhibitory effect on FDI. Additionally, by exploring the mechanisms of cultural diversity affecting FDI, we further find that cultural diversity inhibits FDI mainly through the channels of inhibiting population density and urbanization. The conclusions of this paper not only enrich the theoretical research on FDI location from the perspective of cultural diversity but also shed light on how to better attract FDI to China and other countries, such as resolving cultural conflicts and constructing an inclusive investment environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper integrates trade policy and foreign direct investment into a unified analytical framework, and investigates the effects of input trade liberalization on the entry of foreign firms. To identify the causal effects, we utilize China's accession to the WTO in 2001 as a quasi-natural experiment, and perform difference-in-difference estimation. The results show that input trade liberalization significantly increases foreign entry. We also find that input trade liberalization not only promotes the entry of new foreign firms, but also restrains the exit of existing foreign firms, thereby contributing to the net growth of the number of foreign firms. The mechanism tests show that increasing variety as well as quality of intermediate input and reduction in marginal cost are the potential channels through which input trade liberalization promotes foreign entry. This paper further demonstrates that institutional environment strengths the positive effect of input trade liberalization on foreign entry, and the promotive effect of input trade liberalization on foreign entry increases with industry import intensity, additionally, input trade liberalization is also conducive to improving the quality of foreign investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The papers in this special issue focus on modelling knowledge and innovation spillovers with an emphasis on the context of China. The first paper decomposes the relative importance of economic growth into knowledge spillovers and technical diffusion, using cross-country data on a worldwide scale, as well as provincial data at the regional scale of China. The second paper investigates whether the economic and financial performances of reformed state-owned enterprises are affected by the presence of non-state-owned enterprises from related industries. The final paper examines how the spatial spillovers from inward and outward foreign direct investment affect the innovation activities of domestic firms in China's Shandong province. This special issue contributes to a better understanding of the channels for transferring knowledge and innovation spillovers in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to explore a model of efficient allocation of financial resources in China and other Belt and Road countries to ensure it plays the most effective economic role. In terms of financial resources, this paper uses a fixed effects model to conduct an empirical study of 2006-2019 panel data on the financial resources of Belt and Road countries. The paper finds that the role of financial resources varies from country to country along the Belt and Road. 1) In some regions, increased bank credit is playing a less important role in driving the economy; 2) Securities markets have an important role in promoting economic growth; 3) The insurance industry has great potential for economic development; 4) Foreign direct investment has boosted economic development. Hence we need to face up to the fact that the role of financial resources in economic growth varies from country to country along the Belt and Road, so we need to formulate the corresponding strategies to optimize financial resources and promote the sustainable development of Belt and Road economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China tends to be a dominant figure in the literature on global land grabbing. It is either cast as a major land grabber in distant places such as Africa, or as a key player in crop booms elsewhere because it provides for massive market demand, such as for soya from South America. These are all important issues and are well covered in the literature. However, the crop booms inside China that involve transnational capital and investors - and have provoked conflict around land politics - have been overlooked. Spotlighting the issue of land grabbing inside China reminds us that capital accumulation is principally interested in geographies and settings where it can generate profit - regardless of nationalities, boundaries, structural or institutional conditions. This paper hopes to contribute towards a more refined picture of global land grabbing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the potential impacts of foreign divestment on the growth of China's High-tech Manufacturing industry by developing a dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model that features foreign direct investment (FDI). Simulation results show that when FDI inflow stops, domestic firms substitute foreign firms rapidly, stimulating output relative to the baseline scenario. However, when foreign divestment is continuous or drastic, there are sizable adverse impacts on domestic firms' output with the decreasing labour productivity relative to the baseline. The further decomposition of labour productivity growth suggests that larger foreign divestment results in a more substantial reduction in technological catch-up and technological change, implying the crucial role of FDI-related technology transfer and spillover in the growth of China's high-tech manufacturing industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aims to investigate the impact of China's outward foreign investment (OFDI) in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand (CLMVT). The motivation behind this paper is to examine a pivotal role in determining the macroeconomic factors in these five hosting countries as the "neighboring model" of China. Using panel data for China's outward to her five neighboring countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) for the period 2007–2019. This paper uses two different panel specifications models named correlation from classical statistics and Bayesian statistics where empirical results of this research qualify that China's OFDI is the main factor to have a positive influence on the macroeconomic factors in CLMVT. The GMS region is currently challenging the general FDI theory from the "neighboring model" of China's going global" strategy using OFDI as a pioneer for success for the small developing country namely, CLMVT. Many studies showed that the implementation of the "Belt and Road" strategy will help China increase investment in countries along the route, which will further promote the implementation of the "on going" strategy since 2013. We use panel data for China's outward to her five neighboring countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) for the period 2007–2019, measures the potential of China's outward foreign direct investment by using two different panel specifications models named correlation from classical statistics and Bayesian statistics. This research implements the core concept of Bayes' theorem. This theorem allows us to use a priori beliefs of probability to combine with evidence that it can be found (update every economic situation in CLMVT countries) then this method will have a new prediction of the posterior probability distribution. The posterior probability distribution will be received from the simulation algorithm once again. It would be calculated from the scope of every scenario that can be happening based on our belief in the future. The Bayesian correlation testing still confirms that the FDI inflow from China per GDP of CLMVT countries has the most play important role to drive the macroeconomic of these five countries' economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates a large body of research for the purpose of sorting out the variety of data-sets, research methods, and findings that have emerged over the past decade concerning FDI productivity spillovers in Chinese industry. The review includes 16 papers, which together represent a striking range of data-sets, models, econometric strategies, and research results. After reviewing six dimensions of comparisons of the literature, the paper seeks to identify the common findings, explain why the differences are so extensive, and identify a set of guidelines for framing future research in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to answer the economic implications of combining inward foreign direct investment (IFDI) and outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) by constructing a panel fixed effects model using Chinese industrial firm-level data for the period 1998–2013. Specifically, we focus on the impact of combining IFDI and OFDI on firm productivity in China. We also introduce interactive terms into the model to explore the direct and indirect mechanisms through which IFDI and OFDI affect productivity growth. The results show that IFDI and OFDI work together to contribute to productivity growth by acting directly on the level of technology, thereby increasing productivity. IFDI intensifies market concentration, which in turn positively moderates the relationship between OFDI and productivity. Furthermore, IFDI moderates the financing constraints of firms, but has a weaker effect; the easing of financing constraints facilitates the positive impact of OFDI on productivity. Absorptive capacity favours IFDI spillover, but OFDI inhibits absorptive capacity improvements. Our in-depth analysis of the mechanism of the combined impact of IFDI and OFDI on productivity reveals the objectives of using this combination, thereby providing theoretical support and policy recommendations for the implementation of this strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The People's Republic of China has increasingly become an attractive location for foreign capital. The flow of foreign capital into mainland China includes the so-called northbound cash flow which is a colorful term that is often used to describe capital flowing into the mainland from Hong Kong. Two markets that have become an attractive destination for northbound cash flow is the Shanghai stock exchange and the Shenzhen stock exchange. This paper investigates the impact, if any, of northbound cash flows on investor sentiment for investors residing in mainland China. In other words, the paper attempts to ascertain whether the extent of northbound cash flows influences the extent to which mainland investors feel either bullish or bearish about the market. The research objective is addressed using quantitative models and focuses on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchange. Research results indicate that northbound cash flows from Hong Kong significantly impacts investor sentiment in mainland China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By analysing comprehensive firm data from 1999 to 2013 categorized by zip code, we find that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) companies consistently received more local government subsidies in China. When comparing FDI within the same county and year, it becomes evident that FDI creates positive growth and productivity spillovers for other businesses in the same zip code. Furthermore, there is additional evidence to support the amenities channel as a possible productivity spillover channel. This paper makes a significant contribution to the debate regarding FDI's spillover effects at a disaggregated level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the literature shows that stricter environmental regulations deter exports and inward foreign direct investment (FDI), few studies examine the impacts on outward FDI, especially for developing countries. In this paper, we analyse this issue in the context of China, which is the largest developing country in terms of FDI. We collect the transaction-level data of all the overseas mergers and acquisitions (M&As) by Chinese firms from 2000 to 2019. For the identification of the causal effect, we exploit the implementation of the Environmental Protection Law in 2015 as a quasi-natural experiment and carry out the difference-in-difference-in-differences analysis (DDD). The results show significant impacts of stricter environmental regulations on outward FDI. When the provincial emission reduction target increases by 10% points, the number of overseas M&A transactions in the high-polluting industries has increased by 32 every year since 2015. Moreover, the investments are more likely towards countries with better environmental protection. This suggests that firms aim at gaining cleaner technologies via M&As rather than transferring pollution abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effectiveness of carbon price in emissions trading schemes (ETS) is an important issue in China in the context of its ambitious climate change goals. This paper adopts a staggered difference-in-differences model to estimate whether China's ETS reduced CO2 emissions while maintaining economic growth even under low carbon prices. The results indicate that despite the low carbon prices, the ETS effectively reduced CO2 emissions without undermining the economy. Specifically, an increase of $1 in the carbon price reduced CO2 emissions by 1.69% and increased the per capita GDP by $286. The carbon price primarily achieved emission reduction and promoted economic development through channels, such as technological innovation, foreign direct investment, energy mix, and industrial structure. Carbon leakage to neighboring regions was not evident. Heterogeneity analysis showed that the environmental effects of the carbon price were more pronounced in regions with higher levels of economic development and CO2 emissions. Conversely, the economic effects of the carbon price were more pronounced in regions with lower levels of economic development and CO2 emissions. The carbon price achieved significant economic effects in regions that solely adopted the free allocation mode of emission allowances, while regions that used a combination of free allocation and auctioning experienced substantial emission reduction effects. Despite low carbon prices, China's ETS effectively reduced CO2 emissions without compromising economic growth. This finding provides new empirical evidence for the effectiveness of carbon price as well as decision support for the future promotion of ETS. Technological innovation, FDI, energy mix, and industrial structure are crucial channels through which the carbon price achieves emission reduction and promotes economic development. The absence of carbon leakage to neighboring regions suggests that ETS is an internally effective mechanism for emission control. Heterogeneity analysis showed that regional characteristics and allowance allocation modes can influence the effectiveness of carbon price, thus emphasizing the importance of targeted policy design and appropriate allocation methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes theoretically that FDI(Foreign Direct Investment) not only increases the share of high-quality export products in China's manufacturing industry but it also exerts an effect of demonstration and competition on local enterprises, thus facilitating local enterprises to improve the quality of their export products. We empirically test this theory by using the customs database, which confirms that FDI has a positive impact on the quality of Chinese export products. On the one hand, the export products of foreign-funded enterprises, making up more than 50% of the share of China's exports, are of a higher quality than those of China's local enterprises. On the other hand, FDI strengthens the market competition of local enterprises and promotes the TFP (Total Factor Productivity) of Chinese enterprises, thereby positively affecting the quality of their export products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the Granger causal relationship between capital flows and economic growth in China over the period 1998Q1–2019Q2, allowing for real effective exchange rate (REER) effects. As parameter instability tests indicate structural changes, we use bootstrap rolling window causality tests, which suggest that the causal nexus between capital flows and GDP growth is time-varying. We find that the causal links between foreign direct investments (FDIs) and GDP growth are hardly affected by the REER, whereas the REER plays a more important role in affecting the causal connections between portfolio investments and other investments and GDP growth. Our results suggest that cumulative portfolio inflows and cumulative other investment inflows harm GDP growth, whereas cumulative portfolio outflows and cumulative other investment outflows positively affect GDP growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how China has been portrayed in international cinema throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Using the Internet Movie Database, the authors extract the plot synopses of 4,927 China-related films. The authors apply the word embedding technology and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic model to explore the cinematic plots, as well as achieve the sentiment score and ascertain the socioeconomic factors of score change. The findings indicate that the image of China in international cinema has been associated with gross domestic product (GDP) and foreign direct investment. The image of China changed from the barbarian to the schemer, and finally to the civilized great power, giving the insight into cultural trends that traditional research methods cannot capture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foreign direct investment (FDI) and import and export trade helped strengthen China's equipment manufacturing industry, which is among the world's top high performing industries. However, extensive economic growth in the manufacturing sector has caused massive resource consumption and serious environmental pollution. Therefore, this paper analyzes the impact of FDI and trade openness on the green total factor productivity (GTFP) of China's equipment manufacturing industry by using panel data of the equipment manufacturing industry and 7 sub-industries in China operating from 2003 to 2015. The results indicate that FDI, export trade, human capital, and environmental regulation have asignificant positive impact on the GTFP of China's equipment manufacturing industry, while import trade and technological innovation have asignificant negative impact. And the levels of human capital, technological innovation and environmental regulation restrict the impact of FDI and export trade on the GTFP of the equipment manufacturing industry through threshold effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the legal framework of Chinese-funded enterprises' agricultural investment under the background of big data. To analyses the policies even that contradictions with several entities and their problems were undertaken to choose the best judgements using a decision making support system in the context analysis of the big data approach. Under the conditions of the market economy, to ensure the sustainable development of China's agricultural investment, the construction and improvement of the legal system is an effective way. Meanwhile, under on the background of big data, on the basis of in-depth reflection on the history, current situation, problems and institutional roots of China's agricultural investment legal system, this paper draws on the experience and lessons of foreign agricultural investment legal systems to conduct a more systematic analysis of China's agricultural investment legal system from the perspective of economic law. Finally, this paper gives advice on agricultural investment decision-making through problem analysis, which provides a reference for subsequent related research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to establish a new statistical framework for measuring global flow of funds (GFF) based on its inherent mechanisms. It advances a previous theoretical discussion and develops a practical operational statistical matrix. Based on theoretical and practical possibilities the paper gets existing data from the International Investment Position, the Coordinated Direct Investment Survey, the Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey, and International Banking Statistics are integrated for measuring GFF. The main outcome is a prototype GFF matrix that includes stock data geographically disaggregated by country/region and selected financial instruments. The paper presents a GFF Matrix compiled with the pattern of 'Country vis-à-vis Country' matrix, and through using the GFF matrix to analyze the basic status, mutual relationship and existing problems between China, Japan, and the United States in the external financial positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coordinating and managing the contradictions among the environment, resources and economy is an urgent problem in China. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces and cities in China from 2004 to 2017, this paper empirically studies the impact of environmental regulation on China's high-quality economic development and the mediating effect mechanism through the spatial Durbin model and threshold model. The results show that China's high-quality economic development shows a fluctuating upward trend, and the east is higher than the middle and west. Environmental regulation significantly inhibits high-quality economic development, but its impact is moderated by accelerating industrial upgrading, promoting technological innovation, and enhancing foreign direct investment. As the primary driving force, technological innovation has a significant spatial spillover effect. The results show that industrial upgrading has no threshold effect, and technological innovation and foreign direct investment have the characteristics of a 'U' single threshold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a simultaneous equations model, this paper investigates how/whether the presence of foreign direct investment (FDI) affects the performance of local firms in China's (1) leather shoe manufacturing and (2) textile and garment manufacturing industries. We use the value of sales (total revenue) as a measure of firm performance in domestic and export markets. The distinguishing feature of this paper is the use of an FDI presence measure that takes the regional dimension into account. The empirical analysis presented in this paper reveals that the presence of FDI leads to a significant positive impact on the domestic sales and export intensity of local firms in both industries. This result is found to be robust to alternative measures of FDI. Based on the result, it is recommended that, in order to maximize the benefits from inward FDI, Chinese policy-makers must encourage domestic and foreign-invested firms to locate in close geographical proximity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses papers published within the issue, including one on personal taxes on dividend gains, another on the impact of foreign direct investment and short-term capital investment on stock and real estate prices in China and a paper on herding behavior in the Taiwanese stock market.

This paper assesses the impact of Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) on welfare in African economies using recently available data on Chinese FDI in 52 African countries between 2003 and 2018. Using fixed effects and instrumental variable (IV) estimations, we find that Chinese FDI contributes significantly to the improvement of welfare in African countries. This positive impact also holds for the sub-sample of Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. The results are robust across the fixed effects and IV estimations when variables that affect welfare are controlled for. The findings suggest that China's claim of a "win-win" aim for its rising investment in African countries may hold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trend of foreign direct investment (FDI) in China has switched from inflow to outflow following the rapid economic growth during the past several decades. Stimulated by government policies, in recent years China's firms have actively sought overseas investment opportunities. This paper examines the relationship between economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and cross-border capital flow decisions for listed firms in China. Our findings demonstrate that EPU originating from China does not seem to dissuade FDI inflow into China, but it does curtail FDI outflow from the country. It appears that government policies and the uncertainty the policies bring are deterministic for FDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explains the growth-inequality nexus for China's provinces. The theoretical model of provincial development consists of two regions and studies the interactions of a mutually dependent development process. Owing to positive externalities, incoming trade and FDI induce imitation and hence productivity growth. The regional government can influence the economy by changing international transaction costs and providing a public infrastructure. Mobile domestic capital reinforces disparity effects. The implications of the theoretical model are tested. As the central intention of the paper is to explain provincial disparity, we directly relate income disparity (indicated by the contribution to the per capita income Theil index) to the disparity of selected income determining factors (indicated by the contribution to every other Theil index of the determinants). We examine the determinants of inequality for 28 Chinese provinces over the period 1991-2004 and apply a fixed effects panel estimation. The results confirm the theoretical framework and suggest a direct link between the factors that determine regional income and regional disparity. More specifically, it is apparent that disparities in trade, foreign and domestic capital and infrastructure have an impact on the provincial income Theil disparity, whereas provincial disparities in government expenditure and human capital do not seem to drive the income Theil disparity. Therefore, three decades of government reforms led to an extraordinary success of some provinces and increasing inequality. However, government expenditures and public human capital investments seemed to have a stabilizing effect on provincial disparity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyzes the formative mechanism of the import and export technology effect, the trade contribution and squeezing effect on technology of agricultural FDI, and further regionally discusses this issue in China. The contribution of agricultural FDI to the import and export of agricultural products is remarkable. The agricultural FDI and growth rate of international trade had crowding out effects on domestic agricultural investment. There is a significant positive correlation in the study of regional technical spillover. Agricultural FDI investment enhances the ability of agricultural research and development, to produce technology spillover. Midwest regional technology spillover is not obvious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previously, most literature has argued that FDI spillovers are dependent upon the degree of foreign presence in host regions, but often neglected FDI expansion time-based characteristics’ roles. This paper therefore develops the constructs of pace and rhythm as key features of foreign expansion process. It moves the concept of time compression diseconomies beyond the firm level to cities, and hopes to investigate how technological upgrading in one region is influenced by the FDI expansion process. Based on the panel data set of 244 Chinese cities over 2004-2011, our results illustrate that irregular and unpredictable foreign expansions significantly diminish FDI spillovers in Chinese cities, and it also directly impedes technological upgrading in local area. Rapid foreign expansion process itself impedes technological upgrading, but it significantly enhances technology transfers and disseminations of FDI in Chinese cities. Moreover, this paper also provides implications to contribute to the theoretical framework, and helps policy-makers’ decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to broaden the scope of analysis of the contemporary global land rush by examining crop booms not only outside, but inside China; and investment flows not only from China, but also within and into China. It does so by examining the eucalyptus and sugarcane sectors in southern China, which have witnessed investment booms during the past decade, with capital being infused by both domestic capital and foreign capital, including Finnish, Indonesian, and Thai companies. Our argument addresses three key issues: (a) explaining why foreign and domestic companies enter into a multitude of lease and grower contracts involving holders of micro-plots, (b) revisiting the notion of extra-economic coercion, and (c) a critique of thinking about flows of large-scale investments centred primarily on nationality. These issues are central in current debates in the land grabs literature, and our study offers a different perspective from dominant narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As Chinese investment in foreign land and agriculture expands dramatically worldwide, a growing body of research has emerged on the prevalence of land deals in Latin America and Africa. Southeast Asia, however, has only recently begun to receive significant attention in these discussions. A deeper exploration of the Southeast Asian context offers crucial insights into understanding the puzzle of global land deals (why, where, how they occur) more broadly. This paper frames this exploration via an overview of regional land deal trends – focusing particularly on China’s emergence as a prolific investor in the Global South, and why Chinese investment is increasingly targeting Southeast Asia, especially vis-à-vis expanding flex and boom crop production. This paper aims to provide a broader contextualization for recent Southeast Asian case studies, and to highlight why more research in the region is key in deepening our understanding of global land deal trends. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Innovation and international entrepreneurship are important paths for family businesses to achieve sustainable growth. However, there are few relevant studies on the development and inheritance of family businesses. This paper has taken China's listed family businesses from 2007 to 2020 as a sample in order to explore how investment in innovation affects international entrepreneurial performances. The study found that family businesses with high investments in innovation had lower international entrepreneurial performances. When family businesses are inherited by the firstborn or managed by multiple generations, the degree of this negative impact will increase, while heirs with overseas work experience will reduce the negative impact. The gender and overseas educational experience of the heirs will not have an impact on the negative relationship. These findings emphasize the heterogeneous role of intergenerational succession, revise some traditional inheritance views of Chinese family businesses and reveal the important role of reasonable intergenerational succession strategies in coordinating innovation and international entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firm survival matters not only for the development of firms, but also for industrial development and macro-economic growth. This paper aims to explore a far less studied issue: the impact of exports and outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) on firm survival. First, this research explores the impact of pure-exports, pure-OFDI and mixed trade on firm survival based on a heterogeneous firm model with dynamic conditions. Second, this research demonstrates the theoretical hypothesis by employing micro-data from China and the multiple propensity score matching method. The results indicate that both exports and OFDI help improve firm survival, though the impact of pure-OFDI is larger. This conclusion is robust across different matching algorithms, research periods and empirical methods. The heterogeneous analysis indicates that the 'exports/OFDI–firm survival' relationship varies across both firm and economic characteristics. This research aims to guide firms' optimal method of internationalisation and provide suggestions for the development of a new opening-up pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper empirically investigates the effect of improved transportation system on innovation activities in a panel of Chinese cities. We find robust evidence that there is a significant increase in a city's capacity in invention patents due to the opening of the high-speed railway (HSR). Furthermore, increased expenditure in research and development (R&D), expanded business opportunities through trade and foreign direct investment, and intensified import competition are three plausible channels that allow the opening of HSR to spur city innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by China's historical role as a central hub in the Silk Road, the Chinese government officially launched the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013. The BRI aims at deepening regional economic cooperation on a transcontinental scale and investing in infrastructure that promotes regional connectivity over land and sea. In recent years, China's outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) has increased tremendously. Empirical evidence suggests that Chinese OFDI is about 40 percent higher in BRI countries than non-BRI countries. Under the BRI framework, China is currently a global leader in the construction of transportation infrastructure. In this paper, we examine the case of the China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor (CIPEC) and investigate the macroeconomic implication of the BRI by conducting empirical study on Chinese OFDI to the CIPEC, analyzing China's infrastructure investment, and conducting case studies of BRI infrastructure projects in the region. Our findings draw implication for policymakers in BRI nations who intend to attract Chinese infrastructure investment to improve regional connectivity. The lessons learned from these BRI projects highlight the importance of institutional relationship, domestic politics, political stability, and policy uncertainty, which in turn shed light on future infrastructure projects between China and host countries under the BRI framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between China's changing economy and its global business tax diplomacy. Three trends dominate: China is becoming a net capital exporter, emerging as a major consumer market, and is home to digital giant firms including Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba. The resulting drive to promote both 'going out' and 'bringing in' foreign direct investment has led China to engage selectively and strategically with Western-led institutions. We show how China variously challenges, defends, and develops alternatives to global tax standards in three cases: global efforts to tackle corporate tax avoidance, bilateral tax treaty negotiations, and administrative tax cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores (i) the extent to which Chinese multinational enterprises (CMNEs) undertake FDI via intermediary jurisdictions (also termed capital in transit (CIT)) and (ii) identifies the specific offshore locations used by CMNEs to conduct CIT. We use newly available OECD/IMF bilateral FDI stock data reporting both immediate and ultimate FDI between nations, which allows us to construct a CIT index and empirically test whether Chinese MNEs have a higher propensity for CIT than those from other countries. We demonstrate that CMNEs are indeed outliers with regard to CIT and identify the specific hubs they use drawing from the Orbis database. Our findings imply, among other things, that nationally aggregated Chinese FDI data is systematically biased when used for the purposes of measuring CMNE activity. We then discuss the problems this has created for many studies analysing CMNE activity that have used data collected at the firm-level. In conjunction, our empirical findings provide further insights into the extent, reasons and ways in which CMNEs exploit the offshore world and how this potentially confounds our understanding of their activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the data of turnover of Chinese city-level Party secretaries and mayors over the period 2001–2016, this paper explores the impact of officials' turnover on foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows. We further measure the facial attractiveness score of the new official according to their official photographs and investigate the role of facial appearance of official. The results indicate that turnover of a Party secretary does not show a significant impact on FDI inflows, but in the year of a mayor's turnover, there are fewer FDI inflows and the effect is greater when the new mayor has a lower level of facial appearance. Moreover, the impact of mayors' turnover and facial appearance only exists in regions with lower investor protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the sample companies in China, taking the promulgation and implementation of the <> as an external event shock, and studies the impact of product market competition on stock price crash risk. The result shows that product market competition significantly reduces stock price crash risk, which is quite different from the conclusion under the American economic environment. Further research finds that high management agency problems and opacity of enterprise information may be the impact channel of product market competition to reduce stock price crash risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on a unique dataset of 694 estimates from 24 studies on foreign direct investment backward spillovers in China, this paper quantitatively analyzes spillover effects corrected for publication bias and misspecification and accounts for the heterogeneity in existing empirical results using meta-regression analysis. Robust to various methods and specifications, the results show that this backward spillover effect corrected for publication bias and misspecification is remarkable and economically significant. We also derive backward spillover estimates for hypothetical combinations of study characteristics and find the synthetic spillover estimates vary across heterogeneous firms. The meta-analysis also examines various study characteristics that explain the heterogeneity across studies of the reported spillover estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid expansion of China's exports and inward foreign direct investment (FDI) are characteristic of China's outward-oriented economy. Based on a unique micro-level survey on the co-development between domestic enterprises and foreign-invested enterprises in Kunshan County of Jiangsu Province, this paper finds that domestic enterprises can improve their productivity by matching (in terms of supply, processing, or original equipment manufacturer [OEM] relationship) with foreign-invested enterprises. A self-selection mechanism of matching is at work for domestic enterprises involved in exports: when foreign-invested enterprises operate in China, domestic enterprises compete to match with them, which eventually helps them improve. Empirical analysis supports the emergence of this mechanism, together with a learning-by-exporting effect and a peer effect. In addition, with respect to the peer effect, the improvement in productivity at domestic enterprises whose main product is intermediate inputs depends more on skilled or high-quality labor, while that of domestic enterprises whose main products are capital and consumable products depend more on management staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how bilateral distances shape Chinese enterprises' outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) in tourism in Belt and Road (B&R) countries. The results indicate that while geographic distance is not a key factor explaining the location choice of Chinese tourism OFDI in B&R countries, cultural distance hinders this location choice in a linear and monotonic way. Chinese enterprises prefer B&R countries with a short institutional distance from China for OFDI in tourism to avoid the "outsider disadvantage". Moreover, market scale is found to be a moderating factor influencing the impacts of various distances on tourism OFDI location choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper finds that Chinese manufacturing firms that engage in outward foreign direct investment (ODI) have better economic performance than non-ODI manufacturing firms. Overall, ODI firms are more productive and have higher profitability than non-ODI firms. The sector analysis shows that the exceptional performance is significant for labor-intensive industries. Finally, the ODI activity can raise the productivity of other firms in an industry. The larger the ODI within an industry, the higher the productivity of all firms in that industry. The paper suggests that domestic firms set up their firm’s global strategy and reallocate the firm’s resources according to the changing investment environment, taking advantages of profit opportunities outside of domestic markets and invest abroad to get new markets and new technology. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper uses spatial econometric and the threshold effect models to study the effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) in China's energy conservation and emissions reduction. We use provincial-level data on pollutants (CO2, wastewater emission, exhaust emission, and waste emission) available from 2001 to 2015. Results indicated that FDI not only promotes China's "energy conservation," but also improves China's CO2 emission efficiency and environmental efficiency. We find that export-oriented foreign companies can significantly improve China's energy efficiency and water quality. FDI enhances energy efficiency through eco-oriented technological progress and water quality, air quality through production-oriented technological progress. We also find that the impact of FDI on China's energy conservation and emission reduction has significant threshold effects. Our findings contradict the often believed "pollution haven hypothesis." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's outward FDI reached a peak in 2016, making it as important a foreign investor as Germany, France and the United Kingdom. In this paper, we investigate the main motivations behind Chinese investments in developing countries, Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) in particular. Although the size of Chinese investment in CEE is small, the region is strategic for China as it is a gateway into Western Europe under the Belt Road Initiative. As new or future members of the EU, the CEE countries also provide access to the single market. We find that the motivations to invest in developing countries differ according to regions. Based on outward FDI data provided by the Chinese authorities, the number of Chinese FDI greenfield and M&A projects from Financial Times and Zephyr respectively, as well as face-to-face interviews with companies with investments in CEE, we find that for the case of CEE, domestic markets, access to the larger EU market, strategic assets like technology and prior relationship with the CEE are main reasons for investing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Northeast region has struggled to restructure and modernize its economy during China's transformation into a global power, missing the opportunity to benefit from foreign trade and investment. This paper explores the trade patterns of the region's three provinces vis-à-vis their main trading partners over the period 1992-2018. In particular, we quantify the barriers to trade employing a gravity model specification and trace changes across time and regions. Furthermore, we use a stochastic frontier approach to calculate a measure of the trade potential that serves as a benchmark in assessing the trade performance of Northeast China's provinces. The results show that the region exhibits high trade costs that amount to ad-valorem tariffs ranging between 75% and 100%. The analysis also indicates that the region's trade performance is only 40% to 55% of its potential level. The relatively high levels of inefficiency extend even to trade with the rest of China and have increased over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how Chinese developers responded to the changing patterns of investment in residential real estate in Sydney since 2010. The analysis also outlines the key lessons for cities around the world with high levels of Chinese foreign buyers and developers, which may experience a similar foreign real estate investment decline as a result of changing dynamics in domestic real estate markets, changes in China, and/or wider changes in the global economy or other key global events. Unlike Chinese individual foreign real estate investors who largely exited the real estate market after 2017, Chinese property developers remained committed to the domestic market in Australia. As such, this analysis is framed by a period of individual foreign capital withdrawal and is focused on foreign developers rather than individual foreign real estate investors. The paper argues that focusing on the actions of foreign developers in a domestic real estate market is important because the organisational structure and business practices of foreign developers can be vastly different to those of domestic developers. The analysis shows that since 2017 Chinese developers responded in two ways to the changing residential real estate market in Sydney: (1) they revised their sales strategies to target different customer groups; and/or (2) they changed their building practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following economic reforms, China has become one of the premiere destinations for foreign capital; however, the benefits of this spectacular growth are not evenly distributed. Since the beginning of the 2000s, the Chinese government has designed and implemented policies to encourage foreign investment in central and western provinces to help decrease the significant distributional differences in regional industrial value-added, with limited success. In contrast to previous literature, this paper uses Panel Least Squares method to analyze empirically the impact of industrial sector FDI on Chinese regional inequality in industrial value-added 2003–2013, using three Chinese regions. The lack of prerequisite institutional structure to aid in FDI absorption affects location choices. Despite government policies to support inland regional economic development, foreign firms still prefer to invest in coastal provinces, further illustrating the effects of regional clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese mammoth investment projects abroad, and especially those under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) umbrella, are receiving heavy scrutiny in academic and policy circles. However, there is insufficient empirical evidence to evaluate their impact. This paper employs a difference- in-differences approach and a pair of new datasets on government spending and economic activity compiled by the World Bank to examine the local impacts of the Chinese-Pakistan Economic Corridor in Pakistan. It finds that the 2013 announcement of CPEC was accompanied by a disproportionate increase in government spending in CPEC districts. However, in the six years after it was first announced, CPEC has not directly contributed a significant increase in economic activity in the districts along its path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]