Title: Technology Export Controls, Transaction Costs, and Foreign Mergers & Acquisitions

Speaker: Xie Hongjun, Associate Professor and Assistant Dean of the School of International Trade and Economics, University of International Business and Economics; Director of the China Association of Quantitative Economics and the China Association of American Economics; Compliance Expert of the Legal Affairs Center of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. His main research fields include multinational corporations and direct investment, international trade policies, and the digital economy. His papers have been published in journals such as Economic Research Journal, Management World, JIMF, and Economic Inquiry. He has won awards including the 7th Hong Yinxing Economics Award (Youth), the An Zijie Excellent Paper Award for International Trade Research, and the PwC 3535 Annual Best Paper Award. He is a member of the National Huang Danian-style Teacher Team, and many of his policy reports have been adopted by government agencies such as the General Office of the State Council and the Ministry of Education.

Abstract: Prohibiting or restricting the export of key technologies has become a normalized policy measure in various countries, but serious academic discussions on this policy are relatively scarce. This study takes the transformation of transaction costs involved in technology trade and cross-border technology mergers and acquisitions as the entry point to explore whether technology export control policies induce strategic technology merger and acquisition behaviors of foreign-funded enterprises. The research finds that there is a significant causal relationship between technology export control policies and the increase in the probability of foreign mergers and acquisitions. The previously unnoted positive correlation between technology export controls and foreign mergers and acquisitions may weaken the effect of policy controls. This, on the one hand, highlights the importance of joint actions on technology export controls, and on the other hand, indirectly indicates that an open market will inherently generate countermeasures against technology protectionism.

Date & time: 27 March 2025, 09:00

Venue: B321, Zhixin Building, Central Campus, Shandong University