Topic ：Familiar Strangers: Lineage Connection and Diaspora Direct Investment in China

Speaker：Chen Fanghao（Assistant Professor, School of Economics, Jinan University）

Host：Sha Wenbiao, Assistant Professor, Lingnan College

Time and Date：14:30-17:30, Nov.25, 2022

Venue: Wang Daohan Conference Room，Lingnan Hall

Language: English +Chinese

Tencent meeting: 835-659-451

Abstract:

As a developing country, China became the top destination for foreign direct investment in just a few decades, defying the “Lucas paradox.” Using a unique administrative dataset of the universe foreign firms in China, this paper documents that initial foreign direct investment was mainly driven by the Chinese diaspora; massive non-diaspora foreign direct investment did not materialize until a later stage. Leveraging the staggered opening up of Chinese prefectures during 1981-96 as an identification strategy, the paper finds that following the opening up, diaspora direct investment is more likely to enter prefectures with stronger lineage connections. These prefectures also witness a greater number of non-diaspora foreign and domestic private entrants in the later period.

Profile of the speaker:

Fang Hao Chen is an assistant Professor at the School of Economics, Jinan University. He has a PhD in Economics from the National School of Development, Peking University. His research interests include development economics, urban and regional economics and international economics. His interests include the links between China's regional industrial development and global markets, China's place in the global value chain, and the internationalization of Chinese companies. His current research focuses on the links between overseas Chinese businessmen and industrial development in China. His research results have been published or to be published in authoritative journals such as "Management World", "Economics (Quarterly)" and "Chinese Economics". He teaches Foreign Direct Investment and Regional Industrial Development (PhD) and International Investment (undergraduate) at Jinan University.