FDI spillovers and productivity in Vietnamese manufacturing industries-new insights from the unconditional quantile regression

This research investigates the effects of FDI spillovers on the productivity of domestic firms by relying on unconditional quantile regression. Using panel data of Vietnamese enterprises over the period 2000-2012, we find evidence of positive spillovers for firms at the lower tails and negative spillovers for those at the upper tails of the productivity distribution. Time and the firm's legal status are other factors determining the effect of FDI spillovers. Notably, only low productivity state-own enterprises benefit from positive horizontal spillovers, but in the long run rather than in the short run.