Foreign ownership, sales to multinationals, and firm efficiency: The Case of Brazil, Morocco, Pakistan, South Africa, and Vietnam

Using a one-step stochastic frontier model for five developing countries (Brazil, Morocco, Pakistan, South Africa, and Vietnam), we show that foreign firms benefit from a better investment climate, which significantly explains why they are more efficient than local firms. Unlike former studies, this paper uses the share of each firm’s sales to multinationals located in the country to assess the importance of vertical spillovers, and it controls for the direct impact of the investment climate on efficiency. The results show that firms (particularly small local firms) that sell more of their production to multinationals are more efficient.