Martijn Adriaan Boermans

Regional determinants of FDI in China: a factor-based approach

We empirically investigate the factors that drive the uneven regional distribution of foreign direct investment (FDI) across Chinese provinces from 1995 to 2006. We first perform a factor analysis to summarize information embodied in around 40 variables and derive four FDI determinants: ‘institutional quality’, ‘labour costs’, ‘market size’, and ‘geography’. Applying these estimated factors, we then employ instrumental variable (IV) estimation to account for endogeneity. In line with theoretical predictions, we find that foreign firms invest in provinces with good institutions, low labour costs, and large market size. The Arellano-Bond dynamic panel generalised method of moments (GMM) results show strong agglomeration effects that multinationals tend to invest in provinces which attract other foreign firms, consistent with the economic geography literature. Several robustness tests indicate that low labour costs combined with improvements in institutions are the key for attracting FDI in China.

LEARNING-BY-EXPORTING AND DESTINATION EFFECTS: EVIDENCE FROM AFRICAN SMEs

Vast empirical evidence underscores that exporting firms are more productive than non-exporters. As governments accordingly pursue export-promoting policies we are interested in the firmness of these conclusions with respect to African small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and the influence of the destination of export trade. Using a micro-panel dataset from five African countries we confirm the self-selection. We apply propensity scores to match exporters and use a difference-in-difference methodology to test if African SMEs experience productivity gains because of export participation. Results indicate that African firms significantly learn-by-exporting. Manufacturers obtain significant performance improvements due to internationalization although this effect is moderated by export destination. Firms that export outside Africa become more capital intensive and at the same time hire more workers. In contrast we find evidence that exporters within the African region significantly downsize in capital intensity. Results regarding skill-bias of internationally active firms are mixed, where exporters within the region expand in size and hire more relatively unskilled workers.

A Resource-Based View of Internationalization in Emerging Economies

One of the most remarkable phenomena of recent times is that a large number of firms from emerging economies have come to define and dominate new markets and enter the class of global innovation leaders. Firms that once specialized in cheap but high-quality substitutes (e.g. Brazil’s Embraer), or those that adopted fast second mover strategies (as the one followed by Korea’s Samsung), or firms that offered outsourcing services (for instance, India’s Wipro) are now firmly at the core of the global productivity and innovation frontier. In addition, many small and medium sized local firms that started as exporting joint ventures have moved abroad on their own account.

Estimating Reliability Coefficients with Heterogeneous Item Weightings Using Stata: A Factor Based Approach

We show how to estimate a Cronbachs alpha reliability coefficient in Stata after running a principal component or factor analysis. Alpha evaluates to what extent items measure the same underlying content when the items are combined into a scale or used for latent variable. Stata allows for testing the reliability coefficient (alpha) of a scale only when all items receive homogenous weights. We present a user-written program that computes reliability coefficients when implementation of principal component or factor analysis shows heterogeneous item loadings. We use data on management practices from Bloom and Van Reenen (2010) to explain how to implement and interpret the adjusted internal consistency measure using afa.

Entrepreneurship, risk perception and firm performance

Risk attitudes of entrepreneurs are well-established drivers of business performance. Most empirical studies in this field only take into account risk propensity, leaving out the complementary concept of risk perception. Using data on 611 entrepreneurs from Tanzania, we show that risk perception is positively associated with business performance. In addition, we classify the entrepreneurs in four different groups based on their risk profile. The results show that the worst performing entrepreneurs are those with low risk perception and high risk propensity.

International investment positions revisited: Investor heterogeneity and individual security characteristics

In this paper we show empirically how international investment positions are determined by investor heterogeneity and individual security characteristics. We do so by estimating a gravity model with newly available data that contains both domestic and international holdings of individual sectors from euro area countries in individual bonds and stocks. The five holding sectors (banks, insurers, pension funds, investment funds and households) all face barriers to international investments, but these differ both across sectors and between their bond and stock holdings. Furthermore, individual security characteristics affect portfolio choice across investors differently. For bonds we find that currency denomination, coupon type, maturity and eligibility as collateral for ECB transactions stand out. For equities we find that market values, currency denomination and dividend payments are important. Since holder sectors vary in size across countries we posit that cross-country differences in sectoral composition may lead to different transmission effects of financial shocks.

Contingent Convertible Bonds: Who Invests in European Cocos?

Using a comprehensive dataset on issuances and holdings of contingent convertible debt instruments (CoCos) issued by European banks we investigate who invests in European CoCos. The results indicate that most European CoCos are not directly held by euro area investors. Foreign investors outside the euro area and investment funds located in Ireland and Luxembourg hold the large majority. Euro area banks, insurers and pension funds only have very limited direct exposures. Households in the euro area hold almost no direct positions in European CoCos, although there could be indirect holdings through non-euro area entities and euro area investment funds. Concerns for contagion through cross-holdings of CoCos by banks seem to be unwarranted.