Absorptive Capacity and Productivity Spillovers from FDI: A Threshold Regression Analysis*
使用门槛回归技术，发现制造业中FDI的生产率溢出效应随吸收能力先增后减，且存在最低吸收能力门槛，低于该门槛时溢出效应为负。
Abstract This paper explores whether the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on productivity growth is dependent on absorptive capacity using recently developed threshold regression techniques. In manufacturing sectors where technology‐exploiting multinationals are prevalent, the results point to the presence of nonlinear threshold effects: the productivity benefit from FDI increases with absorptive capacity until some threshold level beyond which it becomes less pronounced. But there is also a minimum absorptive capacity threshold level below which productivity spillovers from FDI are negligible or even negative. On the contrary, no evidence of productivity spillovers is found in sectors where FDI appears to be motivated by technology‐sourcing considerations.