Skip to main content
Article
The Location Decisions of Foreign Investors in China: Untangling the Effect of Wages Using a Control Function Approach
Review of Economics and Statistics
  • Xuepeng Liu, Kennesaw State University
  • Mary E. Lovely, Syracuse University
  • Jan Ondrich, Syracuse University
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-1-2010
Abstract

There is almost no support for the proposition that capital is attracted to low wages from firm-level studies. We examine the location choices of 2,884 firms investing in China between 1993 and 1996 to offer two main contributions. First, we find that the location of labor-intensive activities is highly elastic to provincial wage differences. Generally, investors' wage sensitivity declines as the skill intensity of the industry increases. Second, we find that unobserved location-specific attributes exert a downward bias on estimated wage sensitivity. Using a control function approach, we estimate a downward bias of 50% to 90% in wage coefficients estimated with standard techniques.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.1162/rest.2009.11350
Citation Information
Liu, Xuepeng, Mary E. Lovely, and Jan Ondrich. "The Location Decisions of Foreign Investors in China: Untangling the Effect of Wages Using a Control Function Approach." Review of Economics and Statistics 92.1 (2010): 160-166.