@techreport{BarriosCobos2009Spillovers,
abstract = {We argue that the measures of backward linkages used in recent papers on
spillovers from multinational companies are potentially problematic, as they
depend on a number of restrictive assumptions, namely that (i) multinationals
use domestically produced inputs in the same proportion as imported inputs,
(ii) multinationals have the same input sourcing behaviour as domestic firms,
irrespective of their country of origin, and (iii) the demand for locally produced
inputs by multinationals is proportional to their share of locally produced
output. We discuss why these assumptions are likely to be violated in
practice, and provide alternative measures that overcome these drawbacks.
Our results, using plant level data for Ireland, show clearly that the choice of
backward linkage measure and thus, the assumptions behind them, matters
greatly in order to draw possible conclusions regarding the existence of FDIrelated
spillovers. Using the standard measure employed in the literature we
fail to find robust evidence for spillovers through backward linkages.
However, when we use alternative measures of backward linkages that relax
assumptions (i)-(iii), we find robust evidence for positive FDI backward
spillover effects.},
address = {London},
author = {Salvador Barrios Cobos and Holger G\"{o}rg and Eric Strobl},
copyright = {http://www.econstor.eu/dspace/Nutzungsbedingungen},
keywords = {F23; L22; 330; Multinationales Unternehmen; Ausl\"{a}ndisch; Lieferanten-Kunden-Beziehung; Produktivit\"{a}t; Spillover-Effekt; Messung; Irland},
language = {eng},
number = {7491},
publisher = {Centre for Economic Policy Research},
title = {Spillovers through backward linkages from multinationals: measurement  matters!},
type = {CEPR Discussion paper series // Centre for Economic Policy Research: International trade and regional economics},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10419/32532},
year = {2009}
}
