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Multinationals as Stabilizers?: Economic Crisis and Plant Employment Growth

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  • Roberto Alvarez
  • Holger Görg

Abstract

This paper examines the link between multinational enterprises and employment growth at the plant-level. We investigate in detail the comparative response of multinationals and domestic firms to an economic crisis, using the empirical setting of a well defined case of economic slowdown in Chile as a natural experiment. In our empirical analysis we find that employment growth in manufacturing plants has been drastically reduced during the economic crisis. More importantly, we do not find evidence that multinationals react to the economic crisis differently than do domestic firms. Our findings hold in a number of robustness tests, in which we also investigate the role of access to finance. The results are in contrast to the idea that multinationals are less affected by an economic crisis and that they may be able to act as stabilizers in developing countries.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by University of Nottingham, GEP in its series Discussion Papers with number 07/15.

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Handle: RePEc:not:notgep:07/15

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Postal: School of Economics University of Nottingham University Park Nottingham NG7 2RD
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Web page: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/economics/
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Keywords: Multinationals; employment growth; plant survival; economic crisis;

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References

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  1. Raddatz, Claudio, 2003. "Liquidity needs and vulnerability to financial udnerdevelopment," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3161, The World Bank.
  2. Bernard, Andrew B. & Bradford Jensen, J., 1999. "Exceptional exporter performance: cause, effect, or both?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 1-25, February.
  3. Kevin Cowan & Alejandro Micco & Alejandra Mizala & Carmen Pagés-Serra & Pilar Romaguera, 2004. "Un diagnóstico del desempleo en Chile," IDB Publications 54718, Inter-American Development Bank.
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  5. Mihir A. Desai & C. Fritz Foley & Kristin J. Forbes, 2004. "Financial Constraints and Growth: Multinational and Local Firm Responses to Currency Crises," NBER Working Papers 10545, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  6. Holger G–rg & Eric Strobl, 2003. "Multinational Companies, Technology Spillovers and Plant Survival," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 105(4), pages 581-595, December.
  7. Alvarez, Roberto & Görg, Holger, 2005. "Multinationals and Plant Exit: Evidence from Chile," IZA Discussion Papers 1611, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  8. BARRIOS, Salvador & GÔRG, Holger & STROBL, Eric, 2004. "Foreign direct investment, competition and industrial development in the host country," CORE Discussion Papers 2004011, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
  9. Robert E. Lipsey, 2002. "Home and Host Country Effects of FDI," NBER Working Papers 9293, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  10. Dunne, Timothy & Roberts, Mark J & Samuelson, Larry, 1989. "The Growth and Failure of U.S. Manufacturing Plants," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 104(4), pages 671-98, November.
  11. Matías Braun & Borja Larrain, 2005. "Finance and the Business Cycle: International, Inter-Industry Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(3), pages 1097-1128, 06.
  12. Harrison, Ann E. & McMillan, Margaret S., 2003. "Does direct foreign investment affect domestic credit constraints?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 73-100, October.
  13. J. Konings & H. Lehmann & M.E. Schaffer, 1996. "Job Creation and Job Destruction in a Transition Economy: Ownership, Firm Size," CERT Discussion Papers 9611, Centre for Economic Reform and Transformation, Heriot Watt University.
  14. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1998. "Financial Dependence and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 559-86, June.
  15. Yeaple, Stephen & Helpman, Elhanan & Melitz, Marc, 2004. "Export versus FDI with Heterogeneous Firms," Scholarly Articles 3229098, Harvard University Department of Economics.
  16. Flamm, Kenneth, 1984. "The volatility of offshore investment," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 231-248, December.
  17. Smarzynska, Beata K., 2002. "Does foreign direct investment increase the productivity of domestic firms : in search of spillovers through backward linkages," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2923, The World Bank.
  18. Andrew B. Bernard & Fredrik Sjoholm, 2003. "Foreign Owners and Plant Survival," NBER Working Papers 10039, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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Citations

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Cited by:
  1. Roberto Álvarez & Sebastián Vergara, 2007. "Survival of Small and Medium-Sized Plants in Chile: Has it Changed over Time?, Does it Differ across Industries?," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 427, Central Bank of Chile.
  2. Chun, Sun Eae & Nagano, Mamoru & Lee, Min Hwan, 2010. "Ownership Structure and Risk-taking Behavior: Evidence from Banks in Korea and Japan," MPRA Paper 25334, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  3. Marcin Kolasa & Michal Rubaszek & Daria Taglioni, 2010. "Firms in the great global recession: The role of foreign ownership and financial dependence," National Bank of Poland Working Papers 77, National Bank of Poland, Economic Institute.
  4. Alvarez, Roberto & Görg, Holger, 2009. "Multinationals and plant exit: Evidence from Chile," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 45-51, January.
  5. Laura Alfaro & Maggie Xiaoyang Chen, 2012. "Surviving the Global Financial Crisis: Foreign Ownership and Establishment Performance," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 4(3), pages 30-55, August.
  6. Shafik Hebous & Alfons Weichenrieder, 2009. "Debt Financing and Sharp Currency Depreciations: Wholly vs. Partially Owned Multinational Affiliates," CESifo Working Paper Series 2892, CESifo Group Munich.
  7. Fabienne Fortanier & Selwyn Moons, 2011. "Foreign Investors in The Netherlands: Heterogeneous Employment and Productivity Effects," De Economist, Springer, vol. 159(4), pages 511-531, December.

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