How do Multinationals Impact China's Technology? The Role of Quid Pro Quo Policy and Technology Spillovers

• 成果类型: Article; Early Access
• 署名作者: Ma, Xiao; Zhang, Yiran
• 署名单位: Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School (PKU Shenzhen); Peking University; Fudan University; Fudan University
• 刊物名称: INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0020-6598
• DOI: 10.1111/iere.70006
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: FOREIGN DIRECT-INVESTMENT; research-and-development; INTERNATIONAL-TRADE; productivity growth; ECONOMIC-GROWTH; domestic firms; INNOVATION; diffusion; gravity; MARKET

摘要

Using comprehensive patent data, we document: (1) multinational affiliates and their foreign parent firms comprise a significant portion of patents filed in China; and (2) there are subsequent transfers and spillovers of these technologies to domestic firms. Guided by this evidence, we develop a model of multinational production featuring cross-country idea flows, transfers, and spillovers. Quantitatively, we find that without multinational production and knowledge spillovers, the idea stock owned by China would drop by 30%. Furthermore, due to the externalities of multinationals through technology transfers and spillovers, subsidizing multinationals will at most increase real income by 8% in China.