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A theory of the relationship between foreign direct investment and trade

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  • José Pedro Pontes

    (Technical University of Lisbon and UECE)

Abstract

Although empirical evidence shows that the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and trade is complex, theories of international investment (both vertical and horizontal) present simple patterns of relation.By allowing for different locations of vertically-related stages of production and distinguishing between trade in finished goods and trade in intermediate goods, this paper introduces a nonmonotonic relationship between multinational firms and trade costs, which must be neither too high nor too low for FDI to arise. Exports and FDI behave as complements for high level of trade costs and as substitutes otherwise.

Suggested Citation

  • José Pedro Pontes, 2004. "A theory of the relationship between foreign direct investment and trade," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 6(2), pages 1-8.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-03f20001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Claudiu Tiberiu Albulescu & Daniel Goyeau, 2016. "The interaction between trade and FDI: the CEE countries experience," Papers 1609.02334, arXiv.org.
    2. Monireh Rafat, 2017. "The Interactive Relationship between Regional Trade Integration and Foreign Direct Investment," Iranian Economic Review (IER), Faculty of Economics,University of Tehran.Tehran,Iran, vol. 21(4), pages 809-828, Autumn.
    3. Henri Bezuidenhout & Wim Naudé, 2008. "Foreign Direct Investment and Trade in the Southern African Development Community," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2008-88, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. M. Emranul Haque & Arijit Mukherjee & Burcu Senalp, 2017. "Trade Cost Reduction and Foreign Direct Investment in a Vertical Structure," CESifo Working Paper Series 6689, CESifo.
    5. Jose Pedro Pontes, 2006. "FDI and trade: complements and substitutes," Working Papers Department of Economics 2006/03, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Universidade de Lisboa.
    6. Pontes, Jose Pedro, 2007. "A non-monotonic relationship between FDI and trade," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 95(3), pages 369-373, June.
    7. Claudiu Tiberiu Albulescu & Daniel Goyeau, 2019. "The interaction between trade and FDI: The CEECs experience," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 489-509, July.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F2 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business
    • F1 - International Economics - - Trade

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