An Empirical Study on FDI International Knowledge Spillovers and Regional Economic Development in China

This article has constructed a framework to analyze the relationship between national innovation investments, international knowledge spillover due to FDI and regional technological progress. We use the panel data sample in 1992–2006 from China’s 29 provinces (municipalities or autonomous regions) to test the impact of China’s regional R&D investments, international knowledge spillovers of FDI on its regional technological progress. It reveals that the local investments in science and technology are the most important factors to promote technological progress; for the structure and quality of China’s current FDI, the knowledge spillover effects from FDI, especially through the FDI enterprises’ manufacturing activities, are not obvious; the local gains in its technology development from FDI depends on its economic and technological level. Based on the above conclusions we give the corresponding policy recommendations for China’s FDI policy and regional economic development.