Can Mexico attract high-quality FDI in its biotechnology industry?

这项研究旨在了解墨西哥如何在其生物技术产业中吸引高质量的外国直接投资。基于Sánchez-Ancochea（2000 a：80）的观察，即尽管西班牙和拉丁美洲国家具有相似的法律的和制度特征，但它们之间几乎没有比较分析，本研究使用最相似的系统设计方法来比较西班牙如何设法吸引高质量的外国直接投资，成为世界上拥有最多生物技术公司的第二个国家（OECD 2015，Negroni 2017），而墨西哥难以吸引不局限于经济飞地的外国直接投资（Gallaher and Zarsky 2007）。该研究重点关注各国最大的医疗生物技术产业集群：西班牙的巴塞罗那和墨西哥的墨西哥城。外国直接投资的质量是通过分析其对社会和经济发展的影响来衡量的。经济发展是以增加国内企业生产能力的溢出效应来衡量的，社会发展是以创造持续就业来衡量的，并分为技术和非技术工作。这种区分是必要的，因为生物技术公司雇用的大多是高技能劳动力，并受益于税收减免，以鼓励外国直接投资和研发。因此，努力促进墨西哥的生物技术产业，通过外国直接投资可能会提供有限的发展利益，穷人和中产阶级和加剧inequality.This研究将使用三个层次的分析来解释西班牙和墨西哥之间的外国直接投资的质量差异：公司层面的战略（微观），产业政策（中观）和资本主义（宏观）的品种。它将有助于学术界和政策界就外国直接投资在使墨西哥等中等收入国家能够在高技术产业中发展动态比较优势方面的作用以及外国直接投资在生物技术产业中的社会和经济发展效益进行辩论。报告希望就墨西哥如何仿效西班牙成功吸引高质量外国直接投资提供政策建议。

This research seeks to understand how Mexico can attract high-quality FDI in its biotechnology industry. Building on Sánchez-Ancochea's (2000a:80) observation that there is little comparative analysis between Spain and Latin American countries despite their similar legal and institutional characteristics, this study uses a most similar systems design methodology to contrast how Spain managed to attract high-quality FDI to become the second country in the world with the most biotechnology firms (OECD 2015, Negroni 2017) with Mexico's difficulty to attract FDI which is not confined in economic enclaves (Gallaher and Zarsky 2007). The study focuses on the largest medical biotechnology industrial cluster in each country: Barcelona in Spain and Mexico City in Mexico. The quality of FDI is measured by analysing its effect on social and economic development. Economic development is measured as spill-overs which increase the productive capabilities of domestic firms.Social development is measured as the creation of sustained employment and is divided into skilled and unskilled jobs. This distinction is necessary given that biotechnology firms hire mostly high-skilled labour and benefit from tax breaks to incentive FDI and R&D. As such, efforts to promote the biotechnology industry in Mexico through FDI may provide limited developmental benefits to the poor and middle class and exacerbate inequalities.This study will use three levels of analysis to explain the differences in the quality of FDI between Spain and Mexico: firm level strategy (micro), industrial policy (meso) and varieties of capitalism (macro). It will contribute to the academic and policy debate over the role of FDI in enabling middle-income countries such as Mexico to develop a dynamic comparative advantage in high-technology industries, as well as the social and economic developmental benefits of FDI in the biotechnology industry. It hopes to provide policy recommendations as to how Mexico can emulate Spain's success in attracting high-quality FDI.