外商直接投资Foreign Direct Investment

Forms of inward direct foreign investment; foreign direct investment policy; advantages and disadvantages of inward foreign direct investment 外商直接投资的形式；外商直接投资政策；外商直接投资的利弊为了搞活经济，许多国家大力吸引外商直接投资。但是，对外商直接投资对地方经济发展的影响有不同的看法。本节首先介绍两种类型的外商直接投资，分别从消极和积极两个方面来分析外商直接投资的影响。

外来直接投资通常分为两种类型，一种是绿地投资，另一种是并购（M&A）（Kayalvizhi和Thenmozhi，2017）。绿地投资也指投资的创造，即跨国公司和东道国的其他投资者根据东道国的法律，设立资产所有权部分或全部为外国投资者所有的企业（Aziz，2017年）。跨国并购是指跨国公司和其他投资实体通过一定程序和渠道取得东道国现有企业全部或部分资产所有权的投资行为（贝利，2018）。一般来说，通过并购方式，现有资产由国内所有者转移到国外所有者。然而，在绿地投资中，存在真正的直接投资资本或有效资本的跨国流动（Fujiwara，2017年）。因此，在东道国，跨国公司控制的资产至少在理论上是新创造的。

In order to invigorate economy, many countries vigorously attract inward foreign direct investment. However, there are different opinions on the impact of inward foreign direct investment on local economic development. This section will first introduce two types of inward foreign direct investment, from two aspects: negative and positive to analyze the impact of inward foreign direct investment.

Inward foreign direct investment is usually divided into two types, one is greenfield investment, the other is mergers and acquisitions (M & A) (Kayalvizhi and Thenmozhi, 2017). Greenfield investment also refers to the creation of investment, namely, transnational corporations and other investors in the host country are in accordance with the laws of a host country to set enterprises with ownership of assets partly or totally owned by foreign investors (Aziz, 2017). Transnational M & A refer to investment behaviors such as transnational corporations’ and other investment entities’ obtaining the ownership of all or part of assets of an existing enterprise in a host country through certain procedures and channels (Bailey, 2018). Generally speaking, through M & A method, existing assets are transferred from domestic owners to foreign owners. However, in greenfield investment, there are transnational flows of real direct investment capital or effective capital (Fujiwara, 2017). Therefore, in a host country, assets controlled by a transnational company are at least theoretically new created.

吸引外商直接投资的论据表明，外商直接投资对东道国有利，主要体现在以下六个方面。

首先，许多跨国公司由于其巨大的规模和财力，有机会获得东道国企业无法获得的融资渠道（Li、Scollay和Gilbert，2017年）。这些资金来源可能是它们的国内企业，由于它们的良好信誉，跨国公司比东道国企业更容易从资本市场融资。因此，对外直接投资是利用外资的重要途径（Conconi、Sapir和Zanardi，2016年）。第二，技术和管理进步对经济增长所起的关键作用已被广泛接受（Gunby，Jin，Reed，2017）。然而，许多国家，特别是发展中国家，缺乏研发本国产品和生产技术所需的资源和技能（Chen，2017年）。通过外商直接投资，可以把必要的技术引进这些国家。在本土化过程中，外资企业利用当地劳动力，利用母公司的先进技术进行生产。外商投资企业的员工将加入当地企业，然后会有先进技术和管理理念的流动，导致所谓的技术溢出（Sirin，2017）。同样，国外跨国公司的先进管理技术也可以激励当地的供应商、分销商和竞争对手改进自己的管理技术，从而产生类似的效果。第三，外商直接投资可以增加东道国的就业机会（Fujiwara，2017年）。外国跨国公司雇用一定数量的东道国居民。这会产生直接影响。由于这种投资，跨国公司当地供应商和雇员的消费创造的就业机会反映了外来直接投资的间接影响。间接效应往往比直接效应更重要。第四，通过增加消费者选择，外来直接投资有助于提高国内市场的竞争水平，从而降低价格，提高消费者的经济福祉（Kayalvizhi和Thenmozhi，2017年）。因此，它会带来长期的成果，包括提高劳动生产率、产品和工艺创新，以及提高经济增长率。第五，建立在外商直接投资基础上的公司往往具有强大的竞争优势，可以在当地获得更多利润（Conconi、Sapir和Zanadi，2016年）。因此，他们也要交很多税。在许多国家，特别是在不发达国家，外商直接投资公司成为最大的纳税人。此外，与地方企业相比，还需要缴纳更多的附加税，这对维护地方政府的政策运行和人民福利具有积极意义。第六，外资企业有助于改善东道国的国际收支平衡（Li、Scollay和Gilbert，2017年）。外资净流入是导致我国经济增长的一个重要因素。

外来直接投资通常分为两种类型，一种是绿地投资，另一种是并购（M&A）（Kayalvizhi和Thenmozhi，2017）。绿地投资也指投资的创造，即跨国公司和东道国的其他投资者根据东道国的法律，设立资产所有权部分或全部为外国投资者所有的企业（Aziz，2017年）。跨国并购是指跨国公司和其他投资实体通过一定程序和渠道取得东道国现有企业全部或部分资产所有权的投资行为（贝利，2018）。一般来说，通过并购方式，现有资产由国内所有者转移到国外所有者。然而，在绿地投资中，存在真正的直接投资资本或有效资本的跨国流动（Fujiwara，2017年）。因此，在东道国，跨国公司控制的资产至少在理论上是新创造的。Arguments for attracting inward foreign direct investment show that inward foreign direct investment is good for host countries, which is mainly reflected in the following six aspects.

First, many transnational corporations, because of their huge scale and financial strength, have access to financing channels that are not available to enterprises of host countries (Li, Scollay and Gilbert, 2017). These sources of funding may be their domestic enterprises, by virtue of their good standing, the transnational corporations are easier to finance from capital markets than host country enterprises. Therefore, inward foreign direct investment is an important way to utilize foreign capital (Conconi, Sapir and Zanardi, 2016).  Second, the crucial role played by technology and management progress in economic growth has been widely accepted (Gunby, Jin, Reed, 2017). However, many countries, especially developing countries, lack resources and skills needed for research and development of their own products and productive technologies (Chen, 2017). Through inward foreign direct investment, the necessary technologies can be introduced to these countries. In the process of localization, overseas-funded enterprises use local labour force and utilize the advanced technology of the parent company for production. Employees of foreign-funded enterprises will join in the local enterprises, then there will be the flow of advanced technology and management concepts, resulting in the so-called technology spillover (Sirin, 2017). Similarly, the advanced management techniques of foreign multinationals can stimulate local suppliers, distributors and competitors to improve their own management techniques, thus creating a similar effect. Third, inward foreign direct investment can increase employment opportunities in host countries (Fujiwara, 2017). Foreign multinationals employ a certain number of host country residents. This creates a direct effect. As a result of this investment, jobs created by consumption of local suppliers and employees of multinational corporations reflect the indirect effects of inward foreign direct investment. Indirect effects are often more than direct effects. Fourth, by increasing consumer choice, inward foreign direct investment can help to raise the level of competition in a domestic market, thereby lowering prices and boosting the economic well-being of consumers (Kayalvizhi and Thenmozhi, 2017). Thus it results in long-term results, including improvements in labour productivity, product and process innovation, and higher rates of economic growth. Fifth, companies established based on inward foreign direct investment often have strong competitive advantages and they can get more profits locally (Conconi, Sapir and Zanardi, 2016). Therefore, they also pay a lot of taxes. In many countries, especially in underdeveloped countries, inward foreign direct investment companies become the biggest taxpayer. Moreover, compared with local enterprises, they also need to pay more additional taxes, which is of positive significance to maintaining the policy operation of the local government and people's welfare. Sixth, foreign-funded enterprises are helpful to improve a host country's balance of payments (Li, Scollay and Gilbert, 2017). The net inflow of foreign funds is an important factor leading to the surplus of capital and financial items. It plays an important role in balancing the overall balance of payments of host countries, promoting the improvement of a host country's balance of payments, and in particular maintaining the surplus of capital projects. 

The unfavourable influences of inward direct foreign investment on a host country are mainly manifested in the following six aspects:

First, not all inward foreign direct investment can increase employment (Bailey, 2018). For example, some inward foreign direct investment projects may make the same competitive industries in the host country shrink, then the newly increased jobs may not be enough to offset the jobs lost. The net increase in jobs has therefore also becomes the point of negotiations between transnational corporations and the host government. Second, because host countries often adopt tax incentives to attract foreign-funded enterprises, and foreign-funded enterprises can adopt various legal means of tax avoidance, the tax revenue brought by foreign-funded enterprises is not as large as what is expected (Li, Scollay and Gilbert, 2017). Third, in addition, although foreign-funded enterprises are technically advantageous, they may not necessarily relocate their core technologies to the local enterprises and foreign-funded enterprises will strictly keep their secrets in order to ensure their technological superiority (Fujiwara, 2017). In many cases, foreign-funded enterprises will also suppress the local technological innovation. Fourth, the theory and experience of balance of payments show that long-term capital surpluses can eventually lead to a deficit in current account balances (Kayalvizhi and Thenmozhi, 2017). This is because the capital entered by direct investment is required to remit profits. This will result in the outflow of funds, which will be detrimental to improving the current account of the host country's balance of payments. Fifth, many host governments are worried that inward foreign direct investment will make them lose some of their economic independence. Major decisions made by foreign parent companies will affect the economy of the host country, and the host government has no real control over this. Finally, if the economic strength of a subsidiary of a foreign multinational company is much stronger than that of a domestic enterprise in the host country, the enterprises in the host country will be eliminated from the competition (Bailey, 2018). Once a foreign company gains a monopoly in the market, it will raise the price and adversely affect the economic welfare of the host country. In addition, if a particular industry in a country is the so-called infant industry with potential comparative advantages, allowing foreign direct investment to enter the industry means depriving the development opportunities of the domestic enterprises.