Publication

This paper surveys the literature on R&D and technology spillovers as a motive for foreign direct investment (FDI). The paper discusses how the spillovers can motivate multinational activity with respect to the spatial dimension and what determines the firms’ ability to learn from or absorb external knowledge sources. A review of theoretical contributions on spillovers as a potential motive for FDI as well as a survey of related empirical studies follows. The paper ends with a conclusion and a discussion of problems related to causality and simultaneity.