跨国公司在东道国的竞争力和生产率外文原文.pdfVIP

[MAY Multinational Firms, Competition, and Productivity in Host-Country Markets By RICHARD E . CAVES^ This paper tests for certain benefits of foreign direct investment in the manufacturing sectors of two leading host countries—Canada and Australia . A quest for evidence on the effects of the multinational corporation needs little defence at a time when host and source countries alike incline towards restricting its activities. Economic theory tells us that intramarginal^ gains from foreign investment take diverse forms . An evident and tangible gain to the host government stems from the corporate income tax collected from sub- sidiaries (net of the incremental cost of public services supplied to them) . Other benefits, conjectural and elusive but possibly large, lie in the efiects of direct investment on the value productivity of re- sources owned by the host economy (Macdougall, 1960; Corden , 1967; Caves, 1971). The host nation s private sector does not benefit directly because the foreign subsidiary is efficient, or brings to its shores skilled entrepreneurship or productive knowledge . Rather its gains depend on spill-overs of productivity that occur when the multinational corpora- tion cannot capture all quasi-rents due to its productive activities, or to the removal of distortions by the subsidiarys competitive pressure . These potential benefits can be divided into three classes. (1) Allocative efficiency The multinational corporation may