FDI comes from different sources, with different levels of technology, different modes of transferring it and into different industries. The spillover effects of FDI may therefore differ. The paper attempts to study empirically the spillover effects of Japanese and U.S. FDI on the total factor productivity growth of the Indian firms, both at the firm and the industry level. The results show tha...

We study the regional location of multinationals in Ireland since the 1970s by focusing on the role played by agglomeration economies and public incentives intent on dispersing industrial activity to the more disadvantaged areas of Ireland. We find that regional policy has only been effective in attracting low-tech firms to the disadvantaged areas during the time when there was a much more lais...

We examine how foreign ownership of a firm affects the variety of goods that the firm exports and the number of countries it trades with. We construct a simple theoretical model of how foreign ownership may affect these extensive margins of exports and take this model to data from Germany, one of the leading actors on the world market for goods. In line with theoretical predictions we find that...

In this paper we examine entry decision of a foreign firm when the input market in the host-country is imperfect competitive and production requires non-tradable inputs. We show that the foreign firm’s strategic choice about FDI and export may affect the price of input in the host-country significantly and provides a rationale for doing both FDI and export at the same time. So, unlike the previ...

Productivity Effects of International Outsourcing: Evidence from Plant Level Data* We investigate the impact of international outsourcing on productivity using plant level data for Irish manufacturing. Specifically, we distinguish the effect of outsourcing of materials from services inputs. Moreover, we examine whether the impact on productivity is different for plants being more embedded in in...

A recent, comprehensive database is used to investigate the link between inward foreign direct investment (FDI) and innovation activity in China. The results of the analysis suggest that private and collectively owned firms with foreign capital participation and those with good access to domestic bank loans innovate more than other firms do. Among enterprises not owned by the state, inward FDI ...

Heterogeneous firm models of international trade include a country specific sunk cost that firms pay to enter a foreign market. Despite the important role these costs play in determining firm participation, we understand little about their structure. In particular, we do not know if there are country complementarities or general exporting experience components in entry costs. Characterizing the...

Nike and other brand companies have long been the target of widespread criticism for outsourcing their manufacturing production to contract factories with dismal working conditions. Despite the overwhelming amount of public interest, there exists no theory for studying this topic. The current paper fills this gap. In the model, the most productive firms in the North make high profits and outsou...

The theoretical effects of labour regulations such as employment protection legislation (EPL) on innovation is ambiguous, and empirical evidence has thus far been inconclusive. EPL increases job security and the greater enforceability of job contracts may increase worker investment in innovative activity. On the other hand EPL increases adjustment costs faced by firms, and this may lead to unde...

With few exceptions, the empirical literature on foreign direct investment (FDI) continues to be gender-blind. This paper contributes to filling this gap by assessing the importance of gender inequality in education as a determinant of FDI. We estimate a standard gravity model on bilateral FDI flows which is augmented by educational variables, including different measures of gender inequality i...