Assessing the impact of reverse technology spillover of outward foreign direct investment on energy efficiency

The existing literatures mainly focus on the impact of foreign direct investment or technological progress on energy efficiency. However, the research on the impact of reverse technology spillover of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) on energy efficiency is relatively lacking and not in-depth. Therefore, this study assesses the impact of reverse technology spillover of OFDI on total factor energy efficiency, employing the panel data of provincial and industrial levels in China from 2004 to 2017. First, the impact of reverse technology spillover of OFDI on total factor energy efficiency is evaluated by extended L–P model. The results indicate that reverse technology spillover of OFDI has positive impact on total factor energy efficiency on the whole, but this impact exhibits obvious differences at both regional and industrial levels. Then the threshold regression model is utilized to examine the nonlinear relationship between reverse technology spillover of OFDI and total factor energy efficiency. The results show that, at the regional level, there is a single threshold effect of the OFDI scale and technology development level. Moreover, the double threshold effect of the OFDI scale and the single threshold effect of the technology development level are significant at industrial level.