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Multinational Firms, Internal Capital Markets, and the Value of Global Diversification

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  • Jason Sturgess

    (Dreihaus College of Business, DePaul University, Chicago, IL 60614, USA)

Abstract

Over the past 30 years, multinational firms’ investment grew four times faster than worldwide GDP. Yet the evidence on whether global diversification is valuable is inconclusive. This paper uses detailed foreign direct investment (FDI) data for 251 UK multinational firms and 4,676 subsidiaries for the period 1999–2005 to show that multinational firms exhibit, on average, a global diversification premium. I investigate this result and show that the premium is positively related to “winner-picking” transfers in internal capital markets, and more so for better-governed firms. The findings help explain why multinational firms’ investment and global diversification have significantly increased over the past three decades.

Suggested Citation

  • Jason Sturgess, 2016. "Multinational Firms, Internal Capital Markets, and the Value of Global Diversification," Quarterly Journal of Finance (QJF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 6(02), pages 1-34, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:qjfxxx:v:06:y:2016:i:02:n:s201013921650004x
    DOI: 10.1142/S201013921650004X
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    2. S. Veeramani & Abha Shukla & Mariam Jamaleh, 2020. "Financial theories of foreign direct investment: a review of literature," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 47(2), pages 185-217, June.

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