Foreign direct investment in developing economies A study on the productivity spillover effects in Latin America

Abstract Purpose The aim of this study was to investigate how the productivity spillover effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Latin American economies are manifested. Specifically, the paper sought to identify the role of foreign presence and government intervention through an industrial policy on total factor productivity in Latin American countries. Design/methodology/approach The analyses in this study were performed in two stages. The first step consisted of decomposing the total factor productivity growth, in technical efficiency change (EC) and technological efficiency cha...