IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/emx/esteco/v27y2012i1p61-97.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Agglomeration and the location choice of foreign direct investment: new evidence from manufacturing FDI in Mexico

Author

Listed:
  • Jacob A. Jordaan

    (Free University of Amsterdam)

Abstract

In this paper, I estimate conditional logit location models to identify the regional characteristics that influenced the location choice of the large influx of manufacturing FDI into Mexico that occurred in the second half of the 1990s following the creation of NAFTA. The main findings of the analysis are three-fold. First, regional demand, labor costs, labor quality, agglomeration economies and regional distance to Mexico City and the US are all important location factors. Second, findings indicate that the location decision of export-oriented firms is not affected by regional demand. Third, I find evidence that agglomeration economies have a spatial dimension.

Suggested Citation

  • Jacob A. Jordaan, 2012. "Agglomeration and the location choice of foreign direct investment: new evidence from manufacturing FDI in Mexico," Estudios Económicos, El Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Económicos, vol. 27(1), pages 61-97.
    • Handle: RePEc:emx:esteco:v:27:y:2012:i:1:p:61-97
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://estudioseconomicos.colmex.mx/index.php/economicos/article/view/95/97
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Patricio Aroca & Mariano Bosch & William F. Maloney, 2005. "Spatial Dimensions of Trade Liberalization and Economic Convergence: Mexico 1985--2002," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 19(3), pages 345-378.
    2. Ciccone, Antonio & Hall, Robert E, 1996. "Productivity and the Density of Economic Activity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(1), pages 54-70, March.
    3. Bartik, Timothy J, 1985. "Business Location Decisions in the United States: Estimates of the Effects of Unionization, Taxes, and Other Characteristics of States," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 3(1), pages 14-22, January.
    4. Blomström, Magnus & Kokko, Ari, 1997. "Regional Integration and Foreign Direct Investment," CEPR Discussion Papers 1659, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Aitken, Brian & Hanson, Gordon H. & Harrison, Ann E., 1997. "Spillovers, foreign investment, and export behavior," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(1-2), pages 103-132, August.
    6. Keith Head & Thierry Mayer, 2004. "Market Potential and the Location of Japanese Firms in the European Union," Post-Print hal-00267438, HAL.
    7. Crozet, Matthieu & Mayer, Thierry & Mucchielli, Jean-Louis, 2004. "How do firms agglomerate? A study of FDI in France," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 27-54, January.
    8. Head, Keith & Ries, John & Swenson, Deborah, 1995. "Agglomeration benefits and location choice: Evidence from Japanese manufacturing investments in the United States," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(3-4), pages 223-247, May.
    9. Hanson, Gordon H., 1998. "Regional adjustment to trade liberalization," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 419-444, July.
    10. Christian Hilber & Ioan Voicu, 2010. "Agglomeration Economies and the Location of Foreign Direct Investment: Empirical Evidence from Romania," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(3), pages 355-371.
    11. Krugman, Paul & Elizondo, Raul Livas, 1996. "Trade policy and the Third World metropolis," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 137-150, April.
    12. Eduardo Rodríguez-Oreggia, 2005. "Regional disparities and determinants of growth in Mexico," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 39(2), pages 207-220, June.
    13. Keith Head & Thierry Mayer, 2004. "Market Potential and the Location of Japanese Investment in the European Union," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(4), pages 959-972, November.
    14. Jacob Jordaan & Eduardo Rodriguez-Oreggia, 2012. "Regional growth in Mexico under trade liberalisation: how important are agglomeration and FDI?," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 48(1), pages 179-202, February.
    15. Cletus C. Coughlin & Eran Segev, 2000. "Location Determinants of New Foreign‐Owned Manufacturing Plants," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 323-351, May.
    16. Chiquiar, Daniel, 2008. "Globalization, regional wage differentials and the Stolper-Samuelson Theorem: Evidence from Mexico," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 70-93, January.
    17. Disdier, Anne-Celia & Mayer, Thierry, 2004. "How different is Eastern Europe? Structure and determinants of location choices by French firms in Eastern and Western Europe," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 280-296, June.
    18. Duranton, Gilles & Puga, Diego, 2004. "Micro-foundations of urban agglomeration economies," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 48, pages 2063-2117, Elsevier.
    19. Mr. V. Hugo Juan-Ramon & Luis Rivera-Batiz, 1996. "Regional Growth in Mexico: 1970-1993," IMF Working Papers 1996/092, International Monetary Fund.
    20. Alfredo Cuevas & Miguel Messmacher & Alejandro Werner, 2005. "Foreign Direct Investment in Mexico since the Approval of," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 19(3), pages 473-488.
    21. Coughlin, Cletus C & Terza, Joseph V & Arromdee, Vachira, 1991. "State Characteristics and the Location of Foreign Direct Investment within the United States," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(4), pages 675-683, November.
    22. Magnus Blomström & Ari Kokko & Mario Zejan, 2000. "Technology, Market Characteristics and Spillovers," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Foreign Direct Investment, chapter 10, pages 160-176, Palgrave Macmillan.
    23. Fabienne Boudier‐Bensebaa, 2005. "Agglomeration economies and location choice: Foreign direct investment in Hungary," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 13(4), pages 605-628, October.
    24. Penélope Pacheco‐López, 2005. "Foreign Direct Investment, Exports and Imports in Mexico," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(8), pages 1157-1172, August.
    25. Paulo Guimarães & Richard C. Lindrooth, 2007. "Controlling for overdispersion in grouped conditional logit models: A computationally simple application of Dirichlet-multinomial regression," Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 10(2), pages 439-452, July.
    26. repec:rre:publsh:v:36:y:2006:i:3:p:279-303 is not listed on IDEAS
    27. Guimaraes, Paulo & Figueiredo, Octavio & Woodward, Douglas, 2000. "Agglomeration and the Location of Foreign Direct Investment in Portugal," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 115-135, January.
    28. Javier Sánchez‐Reaza & Andrés Rodríguez‐Pose, 2002. "The Impact of Trade Liberalization on Regional Disparities in Mexico," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(1), pages 72-90.
    29. James Love & Francisco Lage-Hidalgo, 2000. "Analysing the determinants of US direct investment in Mexico," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(10), pages 1259-1267.
    30. Cheng, Leonard K. & Kwan, Yum K., 2000. "What are the determinants of the location of foreign direct investment? The Chinese experience," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 379-400, August.
    31. Eckhardt Bode, 2004. "The spatial pattern of localized R&D spillovers: an empirical investigation for Germany," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(1), pages 43-64, January.
    32. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/10192 is not listed on IDEAS
    33. Carlton, Dennis W, 1983. "The Location and Employment Choices of New Firms: An Econometric Model with Discrete and Continuous Endogenous Variables," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 65(3), pages 440-449, August.
    34. Head, C. Keith & Ries, John C. & Swenson, Deborah L., 1999. "Attracting foreign manufacturing: Investment promotion and agglomeration," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 197-218, March.
    35. Blomstrom, Magnus & Persson, Hakan, 1983. "Foreign investment and spillover efficiency in an underdeveloped economy: Evidence from the Mexican manufacturing industry," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 11(6), pages 493-501, June.
    36. Benjamin Faber, 2007. "Towards the Spatial Patterns of Sectoral Adjustments to Trade Liberalisation: The Case of NAFTA in Mexico," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 567-594, December.
    37. Mollick Andre Varella & Ramos-Duran Rene & Silva-Ochoa Esteban, 2006. "Infrastructure and FDI Inflows into Mexico: A Panel Data Approach," Global Economy Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 6(1), pages 1-27, February.
    38. Rosenthal, Stuart S. & Strange, William C., 2004. "Evidence on the nature and sources of agglomeration economies," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 49, pages 2119-2171, Elsevier.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. René Cabral & Jorge Alberto Alvarado, 2021. "The Role of FDI on Exports Performance: Evidence from the Mexican States," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 44(6), pages 684-708, November.
    2. Tripathi, Sabyasachi & Kumar, Shamika, 2016. "Determinants of firm location choice in metropolitan cities in India: A binary Logit model analysis," MPRA Paper 73995, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Gabriela López Noria & Juan José Zamudio Fernández, 2018. "The effect of uncertainty on foreign direct investment: The case of Mexico," Estudios Económicos, El Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Económicos, vol. 33(1), pages 117-149.
    4. López Noria Gabriela & Zamudio Fernández Juan José, 2018. "The Effect of Uncertainty on Foreign Direct Investment: the Case of Mexico," Working Papers 2018-03, Banco de México.
    5. Cabral Torres René & Alvarado Jorge, 2019. "Manufacturing Exports Determinants across Mexican States, 2007-2015," Working Papers 2019-11, Banco de México.
    6. Sabyasachi TRIPATHI & Shamika KUMAR, 2017. "Determinants Of Firm Location Choice In Large Cities In India: A Binary Logit Model Analysis," Theoretical and Empirical Researches in Urban Management, Research Centre in Public Administration and Public Services, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 12(3), pages 45-62, April.
    7. Çiğdem BASKICI & Yavuz ERCİL, 2019. "Çokuluslu Şirketlerin Doğrudan Yabancı Yatırım Yer Seçiminde Sektör Taşıma Kapasitesinin Gerekliliği," Istanbul Business Research, Istanbul University Business School, vol. 48(1), pages 144-159, May.
    8. Felipe J. Fonseca & Irving Llamosas-Rosas, 2019. "Spatial linkages and third-region effects: evidence from manufacturing FDI in Mexico," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 62(2), pages 265-284, April.
    9. Llamosas-Rosas Irving & Fonseca Felipe J., 2018. "Determinants of FDI Attraction in the Manufacturing Sector in Mexico, 1999-2015," Working Papers 2018-07, Banco de México.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jacob A. Jordaan, 2008. "State Characteristics and the Locational Choice of Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence from Regional FDI in Mexico 1989–2006," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(3), pages 389-413, September.
    2. Nielsen, Bo Bernhard & Asmussen, Christian Geisler & Weatherall, Cecilie Dohlmann, 2017. "The location choice of foreign direct investments: Empirical evidence and methodological challenges," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 62-82.
    3. Blanc-Brude, Frédéric & Cookson, Graham & Piesse, Jenifer & Strange, Roger, 2014. "The FDI location decision: Distance and the effects of spatial dependence," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 797-810.
    4. Escobar Gamboa, Octavio Romano, 2009. "IDE entrants, exportations et productivité manufacturière : les différentes performances des régions mexicaines," Economics Thesis from University Paris Dauphine, Paris Dauphine University, number 123456789/3850 edited by Guillochon, Bernard.
    5. Kandogan, Yener, 2012. "Regional foreign direct investment potential of the states within the US," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 64(4), pages 306-322.
    6. Jonathan Jones, 2017. "Agglomeration economies and the location of foreign direct investment: A meta-analysis," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(5), pages 731-757, November.
    7. Jacob Jordaan & Eduardo Rodriguez-Oreggia, 2012. "Regional growth in Mexico under trade liberalisation: how important are agglomeration and FDI?," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 48(1), pages 179-202, February.
    8. Combes, Pierre-Philippe & Gobillon, Laurent, 2015. "The Empirics of Agglomeration Economies," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 247-348, Elsevier.
    9. Christian Hilber & Ioan Voicu, 2010. "Agglomeration Economies and the Location of Foreign Direct Investment: Empirical Evidence from Romania," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(3), pages 355-371.
    10. Junjie Hong, 2009. "Firm Heterogeneity and Location Choices: Evidence from Foreign Manufacturing Investments in China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 46(10), pages 2143-2157, September.
    11. Rodrigo Alegria, 2006. "Countries, Regions and Multinational Firms: Location Determinants in the European Union," ERSA conference papers ersa06p143, European Regional Science Association.
    12. Jordaan, Jacob A., 2008. "Intra- and Inter-industry Externalities from Foreign Direct Investment in the Mexican Manufacturing Sector: New Evidence from Mexican Regions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 2838-2854, December.
    13. Schäffler, Johannes & Hecht, Veronika & Moritz, Michael, 2014. "Regional determinants of German FDI in the Czech Republic : evidence from a gravity model approach," IAB-Discussion Paper 201403, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    14. Megha Mukim & Peter Nunnenkamp, 2012. "The Location Choices of Foreign Investors: A District-level Analysis in India," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(7), pages 886-918, July.
    15. Chen, George Shih-Ku, 2009. "Agglomeration economies and the location of Taiwanese investment in China," MPRA Paper 13896, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Andrea Ascani & Riccardo Crescenzi & Simona Iammarino, 2015. "Economic Institutions and the Location Strategies of European Multinationals in their Geographical Neighbourhood," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 97, European Institute, LSE.
    17. Josep‐Maria Arauzo‐Carod & Daniel Liviano‐Solis & Miguel Manjón‐Antolín, 2010. "Empirical Studies In Industrial Location: An Assessment Of Their Methods And Results," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3), pages 685-711, August.
    18. Mayer, T. & Mejean, I. & Nefussi, B., 2010. "The location of domestic and foreign production affiliates by French multinational firms," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 115-128, September.
    19. Fabienne Boudier‐Bensebaa, 2005. "Agglomeration economies and location choice: Foreign direct investment in Hungary," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 13(4), pages 605-628, October.
    20. Andrea Gauselmann & Philipp Marek, 2012. "Regional determinants of MNE’s location choice in post-transition economies," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 39(4), pages 487-511, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    FDI; location; agglomeration; conditional logit; nested Logit; Mexico;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • O54 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Latin America; Caribbean
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:emx:esteco:v:27:y:2012:i:1:p:61-97. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ximena Varela (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cecolmx.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.