IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/chb/bcchwp/282.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Customs Unions And Foreign Investment: Theory And Evidence From Mercosur’s Auto Industry

Author

Listed:
  • Çaglar Özden
  • Francisco J. Parodi

Abstract

This paper demonstrates how regional trade agreements (RTAs) can lead to both foreign direct investment expansion and relocation effects. These two effects, in return, impact the endogenous formation of RTAs. The investment expansion effect results from foreign firms’ ability to serve a larger market from a single facility. The relocation effect occurs due to the firms’ desire to move their initial plants from high-cost member countries to low-cost ones. The relocation effect can overwhelm the expansion effect for the high-cost members and lead to the collapse of socially efficient RTAs. The auto industry in Mercosur is a great example to study these phenomena. Argentina was worried that low-cost Brazil would attract all of the foreign investment and dominate both markets. To convince Argentina to agree to free trade in automobiles (and to Mercosur), the auto sectoral agreement included the Compensated Trade Clause (CTC) which requires each firm to balance its trade between these countries. This mitigates the relocation problem by forcing firms to produce some models in Argentina and entices the governments to sign the RTA..

Suggested Citation

  • Çaglar Özden & Francisco J. Parodi, 2004. "Customs Unions And Foreign Investment: Theory And Evidence From Mercosur’s Auto Industry," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 282, Central Bank of Chile.
    • Handle: RePEc:chb:bcchwp:282
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.bcentral.cl/documents/33528/133326/DTBC_282.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Blomström, Magnus & Kokko, Ari, 1997. "Regional Integration and Foreign Direct Investment," CEPR Discussion Papers 1659, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Robert C. Feenstra & Gene M. Grossman & Douglas A. Irwin (ed.), 1996. "The Political Economy of Trade Policy: Papers in Honor of Jagdish Bhagwati," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262061864, December.
    3. Olarreaga, Marcelo & Soloaga, Isidro, 1998. "Endogenous Tariff Formation: The Case of Mercosur," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 12(2), pages 297-320, May.
    4. Motta, Massimo & Norman, George, 1996. "Does Economic Integration Cause Foreign Direct Investment?," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 37(4), pages 757-783, November.
    5. Elias Dinopoulos, 1989. "Quid Pro Quo Foreign Investment," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 1(2), pages 145-160, July.
    6. Heinrich, Jeff & Eby Konan, Denise, 2000. "Foreign Direct Investment and Host-Country Trading Blocs," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 15, pages 565-584.
    7. Bhagwati, Jagdish N. & Brecher, Richard A. & Dinopoulos, Elias & Srinivasan, T. N., 1987. "Quid pro quo foreign investment and welfare : A political-economy-theoretic model," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(1-2), pages 127-138, October.
    8. Wilfred J. Ethier, 1998. "Regionalism in a Multilateral World," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1214-1245, December.
    9. Grossman, Gene M & Helpman, Elhanan, 1994. "Protection for Sale," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(4), pages 833-850, September.
    10. James R. Markusen, 1995. "The Boundaries of Multinational Enterprises and the Theory of International Trade," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 169-189, Spring.
    11. Bhagwati, Jagdish N & Dinopoulos, Elias & Wong, Kar-yiu, 1992. "Quid Pro Quo Foreign Investment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(2), pages 186-190, May.
    12. -, 2000. "Foreign Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 1999," La Inversión Extranjera Directa en América Latina y el Caribe, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 1155 edited by Eclac, May.
    13. Baldwin, Richard E. & Venables, Anthony J., 1995. "Regional economic integration," Handbook of International Economics, in: G. M. Grossman & K. Rogoff (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 31, pages 1597-1644, 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. Waldkirch Andreas & Tekin-Koru Ayça, 2010. "North American Integration and Canadian Foreign Direct Investment," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-40, August.
    2. Thangavelu, Shandre M. & Narjoko, Dionisius, 2014. "Human capital, FTAs and foreign direct investment flows into ASEAN," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 65-76.
    3. Anatoliy Spitsyn & Galiya Kulubekova, 2016. "Eurasian Economic Union and Prospects of Development of Transnational Corporations in the Frame of the Globalization," Economy of region, Centre for Economic Security, Institute of Economics of Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, vol. 1(3), pages 695-702.
    4. Sokolovskyi, Dmytro & Sokolovska, Olena, 2013. "The problem of arising the Pareto inefficient norm in relations “investor – government” type," MPRA Paper 44745, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    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. Blanchard, Emily J., 2010. "Reevaluating the role of trade agreements: Does investment globalization make the WTO obsolete?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 63-72, September.
    2. Li, Qiaomin & Scollay, Robert & Maani, Sholeh, 2016. "Effects on China and ASEAN of the ASEAN-China FTA: The FDI perspective," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 1-19.
    3. Denise Eby KONAN & Jeff HEINRICH, 2009. "Regional Integration and the (Re)distribution of Foreign Investment between Asymmetric Hosts," EcoMod2009 21500054, EcoMod.
    4. Grether, Jean-Marie & de Melo, Jaime & Olarreaga, Marcelo, 2001. "Who determines Mexican trade policy?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 343-370, April.
    5. Hideo Konishi & Kamal Saggi & Shlomo Weber, 2023. "Endogenous trade policy under foreign direct investment," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Kamal Saggi (ed.), Technology Transfer, Foreign Direct Investment, and the Protection of Intellectual Property in the Global Economy, chapter 23, pages 523-542, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    6. Andréa M. Maechler, 2000. "The Politics of Trade Liberalization in the Presence of FDI Incentives," Working Papers 00.09, Swiss National Bank, Study Center Gerzensee.
    7. Michael J. Hiscox, 2004. "International Capital Mobility And Trade Politics: Capital Flows, Political Coalitions, And Lobbying," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(3), pages 253-285, November.
    8. Denise Eby Konan & Jeff Heinrich, 2008. "Regional Integration and the (Re)Distrubtion of Foreign Direct Investment between Asymmetric Hosts," DEGIT Conference Papers c013_002, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade.
    9. Piazolo, Daniel & Kokta, Robert M. & Buch, Claudia M., 2001. "Does the East Get What Would Otherwise Flow to the South? FDI Diversion in Europe," Kiel Working Papers 1061, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    10. Emily Blanchard & Xenia Matschke, 2015. "U.S. Multinationals and Preferential Market Access," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(4), pages 839-854, October.
    11. Bagwell,K. & Staiger,R.W., 2000. "GATT-think," Working papers 19, Wisconsin Madison - Social Systems.
    12. Bruce A. Blonigen & Robert C. Feenstra, 1997. "Protectionist Threats and Foreign Direct Investment," NBER Chapters, in: The Effects of US Trade Protection and Promotion Policies, pages 55-80, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Priya Ranjan, 2006. "Preferential trade areas, multinational enterprises, and welfare," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 39(2), pages 493-515, May.
    14. Burfisher, Mary E. & Robinson, Sherman & Thierfelder, Karen, 2004. "Regionalism," MTID discussion papers 65, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    15. Marcelo Olarreaga, 1998. "Why Are Trade Agreements More Attractive In The Presence Of Foreign Direct Investment?," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 134(IV), pages 565-583, December.
    16. Innwon Park & Soonchan Park, 2008. "Reform Creating Regional Trade Agreements And Foreign Direct Investment: Applications For East Asia," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(5), pages 550-566, December.
    17. Laixun Zhao, 1996. "The Complementarity Between Endogenous Protection And Direct Foreign Investment," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(1), pages 61-72, March.
    18. Takemori, Shumpei & Tsumagari, Masatoshi, 1997. "A political economy theory of foreign investment: An alternative approach," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 515-531, December.
    19. Horn, Henrik & Mavroidis, Petros C., 2001. "Economic and legal aspects of the Most-Favored-Nation clause," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 233-279, June.
    20. Grossman, Gene M. & Helpman, Elhanan, 1994. "Foreign Investment with Endogenous Protection," Foerder Institute for Economic Research Working Papers 275594, Tel-Aviv University > Foerder Institute for Economic Research.

    More about this item

    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:chb:bcchwp:282. 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: Alvaro Castillo (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bccgvcl.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.