Fencing Off Silicon Valley: Cross-Border Venture Capital and Technology Spillovers
Date
January 2024
Author(s)
Ates, Sina T.
Townsend, Richard
Zhestkova, Yulia
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Citation
Akcigit, Ufuk, Sina T. Ates, Josh Lerner, Richard Townsend, and Yulia Zhestkova. "Fencing Off Silicon Valley: Cross-Border Venture Capital and Technology Spillovers." Journal of Monetary Economics 141 (January 2024): 14–39.
Abstract
The treatment of foreign investors is a contentious topic in U.S. entrepreneurship policy. We model a setting where foreign corporate investments in Silicon Valley may allow U.S. entrepreneurs to pursue technologies that they could not otherwise, but may also lead to knowledge spillovers. We show that despite the benefits from such inbound investments for U.S. firms, it may be optimal for the U.S. government to raise their costs to deter these investments. Using as comprehensive as possible a sample of investments by foreign corporate investors in U.S. startups, we find evidence consistent with the presence of knowledge spillovers to foreign investors.
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