經濟成長向來是國家最關心的總體指標，在全球科技化的狀況下，國與國之間的經濟活動更顯得無遠弗屆。Solow（1956）認為經濟成長之主因來自於資本之累積， Romer(1986)與Lucas(1988)也提出以強調技術、人力資本對經濟發展為主要原因的內生成長模型。因此，外人直接投資對經濟成長的影響扮演著相當重要的角色。文獻上探討外人直接投資對經濟成長影響的結果相當分歧。因此有人提出了吸收外來技術的能力，也就是說，接收國必須有足夠的吸收能力吸收外來的技術。本文利用Borensztein et al.（1998）所設定的成長模型進行探討，加入了跨產業別的資料，解決內生性及因果關係的問題，驗證人力資本吸收技術外溢效果的重要性。研究樣本採用1980年到1999年，共43個國家，28個產業。本文研究的結果如下： 一、 本文再次驗證了外人直接投資對經濟成長透過人力資本產生了外溢效果，說明了外人直接投資是一個相當重要的管道。 二、 在勞動生產力的研究結果也顯示，透過人力資本的累積，可以提升人類的知識與能力，進而提高勞動生產力，而勞動生產力愈高，相同投入所能帶來的產業產值也愈大。 三、 相對較落後國家接收外人直接投資透過人力資本累積的管道對勞動生產力在本研究結果下是有正向顯著的影響。 四、 亞洲及拉丁美洲國家，這些接收較多外人直接投資的國家透過人力資本累積的管道對勞動生產力有正向的影響。 Economic growth is always the major concern of a country. Solow(1956) believes that the main cause of economic growth comes from capital accumulation. In addition, Romer(1986) and Lucas(1988) also propose endogenous growth models to highlight the importance of technological progress and human capital in economic development. As such, foreign direct investment (FDI), which cannot only help to accumulate domestic capital but also to pass technological diffusion, could play an important role in economic development. However, not all of the host countries can fully absorb this spillover effect, indicating that certain individual characteristics may be important to determine a country’s absorptive capacity of FDI. In this paper, we use endogenous growth model developed by Borensztein et al.(1998) as a theoretical model and apply cross country and cross industry data to empirically investigate how FDI affect economic growth in the host country, with consideration of the degree of human capital as an important factor of determining positive effect of FDI. The data used in this study contain 43 countries and 28 industries for the period 1980 to 1999 and the main findings of this research are as follows: 1. The impact of FDI on industrial growth, through industrial human capital intensity, depends on the degree of human capital in the host countries. 2. In the analysis of labor productivity, the result shows that human capital enhances labor’s knowledge and ability, and hence improves labor productivity. 3. In the less developed countries, FDI, through human capital, exerts more significant positive impact on economic growth. 4. Asian and Latin American countries relatively receive more FDI than other countries and also have more positive impact from FDI on industrial growth through the degree of human capital level in the host country.
