Spillovers from Multinationals to Heterogeneous Domestic Firms: Evidence from Hungary

Firms cluster their economic activities to exploit technological and informational spillovers from other firms. Spillovers through the entry of multinational firms can be particularly beneficial to domestic firms because of their technological superiority. Yet, the importance of foreign firm's spillovers might depend on two key features of domestic firms: their productivity level and its export status. In line with theories and empirical evidence on the absorptive capacity of firms, we argue on the basis of an empirical analysis of Hungarian firms that larger and more productive firms are more able to reap spillovers from multinationals firms than smaller firms. The export status, in contrast, is of minor importance.