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  • 2023
  • Working Paper
  • HBS Working Paper Series

Fencing Off Silicon Valley: Cross-Border Venture Capital and Technology Spillovers

By: Ufuk Akcigit, Sina T. Ates, Josh Lerner, Richard Townsend and Yulia Zhestkova
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:72
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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.

Keywords

Innovation; Corporate Venture Capital; Knowledge Spillovers; Innovation and Invention; Foreign Direct Investment; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Policy; United States

Citation

Akcigit, Ufuk, Sina T. Ates, Josh Lerner, Richard Townsend, and Yulia Zhestkova. "Fencing Off Silicon Valley: Cross-Border Venture Capital and Technology Spillovers." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 21-043, September 2020. (Revised September 2023. Conditionally Accepted, Journal of Monetary Economics.)
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About The Author

Josh Lerner

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

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More from the Authors
  • Anti-Corruption, Government Subsidies, and Innovation: Evidence from China By: Lily Fang, Josh Lerner, Chaopeng Wu and Qi Zhang
  • Takahashi-Alexander Revisited: Modeling Private Equity Portfolio Outcomes Using Historical Simulations By: Dawson Beutler, Alex Billias, Sam Holt, Josh Lerner and TzuHwan Seet
  • CalPERS Private Equity 2.0 By: Josh Lerner, John D. Dionne and Alys Ferragamo
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