It has been empirically shown that ̄rms invest in foreign countries also with the aim to absorb technological knowledge. However, the recent literature on technological innovation and foreign expansion has not fully taken into account these features of foreign direct investment. Introducing this new element into the analysis implies assuming that multinationals and exporters operate with di®ere...

Elizabeth Weber Handwerker, Mina M. Kim, and Lowell Mason The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) collects data on multinational companies based in the United States—firms that have full or partial ownership of affiliate companies in foreign countries. However, BEA data offer little detail on the characteristics of these firms’ U.S. employment. Identifying such firms in BLS data can show the geog...

This paper analyzes the prices paid by foreign companies for acquisitions in the United States relative to the price paid by US companies for mergers. The ultimate purpose of this research is to determine if overpayment by foreign companies for M&A foreign direct investment in the United States is responsible for the historically low returns of foreign companies on their direct investments with...