TY  - JOUR
AU  - Blomstrom,Magnus
AU  - Wolff,Edward N.
TI  - Multinational Corporations and Productivity Convergence in Mexico
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 3141
PY  - 1994
Y2  - December 1994
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w3141
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w3141.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Magnus Blomstrom
European Institute of Japanese Studies
Stockholm School of Economics
Post Office Box 6501, Sveavagen 65
S-113 83 Stockholm
 SWEDEN
Tel: 46-8-7369265
Fax: 46-8-313017
E-Mail: magnus.blomstrom@gmail.com

Edward N. Wolff
Department of Economics
New York University
19 W. 4th Street, 6th Floor
New York, NY  10012
Tel: 212/998-8917
Fax: 212/995-4186
E-Mail: edward.wolff@nyu.edu
M2  - featured in NBER digest on 1990-01-01
AB  - This paper examines the impact of the operations of foreign-owned multinational firms on the productivity growth of Mexican manufacturing industries, 1965-1984. It investigates both the extent to which the penetration of a sector by foreign-owned firms affects the productivity of local firms in that sector and whether there is any evidence of convergence between that industry's productivity level and that of the United States. The main results can be summarized as follows: First, productivity levels of locally-owned firms in Mexico have converged to those of foreign-owned firms. Second, both the rate of productivity growth of local firms and their rate of catch-up to the multinationals are positively related to the degree of foreign ownership of an industry. Third, the productivity gap between Mexico and U.S. manufacturing has diminished between the mid-1960s and the mid-1980s. Fourth, the rate of productivity growth of Mexican industries and its rate of convergence to the United States are higher in industries with a greater presence of multinationals. We conclude that multinational firms have contributed to a geographical diffusion of technology and acted as a bridge between advanced and less advanced countries.
ER  -