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Distance and Foreign Direct Investment when Contracts are Incomplete

Author

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  • Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano
  • Alessandro Turrini

Abstract

We introduce incomplete contracts in a model where multinational firms from a certain country ("North") can decide to serve a foreign market ("South") through exports or through horizontal foreign direct investment (FDI). FDI relies on the supply of specialized intermediate inputs that could be supplied either by northern suppliers or by suppliers located in South. Intermediate sourcing contracts are complete in North but not in South. Were southern contracts also complete, FDI would arise only when trade barriers are high enough. Incomplete contracts in South generate, instead, a non-linear relation between trade barriers and FDI as foreign investment emerges also when trade barriers are low enough. The reason is the positive effect that low trade barriers have on the bargaining power of final producers with respect to their southern suppliers. (JEL: F23, F12) (c) 2007 by the European Economic Association.

Suggested Citation

  • Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano & Alessandro Turrini, 2007. "Distance and Foreign Direct Investment when Contracts are Incomplete," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 5(4), pages 796-822, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:jeurec:v:5:y:2007:i:4:p:796-822
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Arti Grover, 2008. "Vertical FDI versus Outsourcing: A Welfare Comparison from the Perspective of the Host Country," DEGIT Conference Papers c013_009, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade.
    2. Alireza Naghavi & Julia Spies & Farid Toubal, 2013. "IPR, Product Complexity and the Organization of Multinational Firms," Working Papers 2013-31, CEPII research center.
    3. Spiros Bougheas & Holger Görg, 2008. "Organizational Forms for Global Engagement of Firms," Discussion Papers 08/33, University of Nottingham, GEP.
    4. Mugele, Christian & Schnitzer, Monika, 2008. "Organization of multinational activities and ownership structure," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 1274-1289, November.
    5. Biancini, Sara & Bombarda, Pamela, 2021. "Intellectual property rights, multinational firms and technology transfers," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 191-210.
    6. Pietro De Ponti & Valeria Gattai, 2022. "Family Firms and Input Procurement: Firm-Level Evidence from Italy," Working Papers 499, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Jun 2022.
    7. Alireza Naghavi & Julia Spies & Farid Toubal, 2015. "Intellectual property rights, product complexity and the organization of multinational firms," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 48(3), pages 881-902, August.
    8. Ragnhild Balsvik, 2010. "Multinationals' Mode of Entry in the Presence of Upstream Spillovers," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 77(306), pages 334-351, April.
    9. Pedro S. Martins & Yong Yang, 2015. "Globalized Labour Markets? International Rent Sharing Across 47 Countries," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 53(4), pages 664-691, December.
    10. Marta Bernasconi & Sara Galetti & Valeria Gattai & Piergiovanna Natale, 2022. "Contract Incompleteness and the Boundaries of the Firm in Times of COVID-19," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 371-409, December.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation

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