The present paper analyses the multinational firm's decision on where to subcontract in a context of asymmetric information. When a multinational firm (MNF) intends to subcontract the production of a good to a foreign firm, it faces an adverse selection problem. In fact, at the outset, foreign firms (agents) have an information advantage relative to the MNF with respect to their true production costs, which is not available to the MNF (principal). Methodologically, we adapt the general model of adverse selection to the particular case of the choice of the country on where to subcontract. We then compare the equilibrium obtained with the one which would occur in a context absent of adverse selection. Furthermore, we analyze the sensibility of the equilibrium and of a MNF's profits to changes in the parameters of the model. Since the subcontracting relationship is, generally, materialised through the accomplishment of a contract between the MNF and the foreign firm, the decision of the country on where to subcontract relates to the choice of the best contract, from the MNF's point of view, to offer to the foreign firm. Adverse selection modelling outcomes justify and are coherent with empirical evidence such as, the diversity of countries that MNFs subcontract and the fast production relocation between countries.
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Paper provided by Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto in its series CETE Discussion Papers with number
0504.
Find related papers by JEL classification: D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business L24 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Contracting Out; Joint Ventures
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References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Grossman, G.M. & Helpman, E., 2002.
"Outsourcing in a Global Economy,"
Papers
218, Princeton, Woodrow Wilson School - Public and International Affairs.
Gene M. Grossman & Elhanan Helpman, 2002.
"Outsourcing in a Global Economy,"
Working Papers
149, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Discussion Papers in Economics..
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