Farid Toubal

Spillovers from Multinationals to Heterogeneous Domestic Firms: Evidence from Hungary

Firms cluster their economic activities to exploit technological and informational spillovers from other firms. Spillovers from multinational firms can be particularly beneficial to firms in less developed economies, because technological superiority and management expertise of foreign multinational firms yield various opportunities for learning. Yet, the importance of foreign firms’ spillovers might vary with respect to two key features of domestic firms: their productivity level and their export status. In line with theories on the absorptive capacity of firms, we argue on the basis of an empirical analysis of Hungarian firms that larger and more productive firms are more able than smaller firms to reap spillovers from multinationals. However, the export status is found to be of minor importance once higher productivity is controlled for.

Determinants of German FDI: New Evidence from Micro-Data

This paper provides new evidence on the foreign direct investment stocks of German firms. We use firm-level data for the years 1990-2000 to describe the regional and sectoral patterns of German FDI through gravity-type equations. We provide evidence on the patterns of FDI by sector, by size of the foreign affiliate, and by the number of affiliates per host country. While market size and geographic distance have a significant impact on FDI stocks, we also find differences in the determinants of FDI between sectors as well as between the size of foreign affiliates and the number of foreign affiliates.

Where Enterprises Lead, People Follow? Links Between Migration and German FDI

Globalization has affected the integration of markets through many different channels, including movements of factors and trade in goods. From a theoretical point of view, the interaction between the different channels of integration can take different forms. The aim of this paper is to analyze the interaction between different channels of integration empirically. More specifically, we use state-level German data to answer the question whether and how migration and FDI decisions and thus integration of labor and capital markets are linked. Our findings suggest that FDI and migration have similar determinants. Moreover, there is substantial evidence that factors cluster.

Intellectual Property Rights, Product Complexity, and the Organization of Multinational Firms

This paper studies how the Intellectual Property Right (IPR) regime in destination countries influences the way multinationals structure the international organization of their production. In particular, we explore how multinationals divide tasks of different complexities across countries with different levels of IPR protection. The analysis studies the decision of firms between procurement from related parties and outsourcing to independents suppliers at the product level. It also breaks down outsourcing into two types by distinguishing whether or not they involve technology sharing between the two parties. We combine data from a French firm-level survey on the mode choice for each transaction with a newly developed complexity measure at the product level. Our results confirm that firms are generally reluctant to source highly complex goods from outside firm boundaries. By studying the interaction between product complexity and the IPR protection, we obtain that (i) for technology-sharing-outsourcing IPRs promote outsourcing of more complex goods to a destination country by guaranteeing the protection of their technology, (ii) for non-technology-related-outsourcing IPRs attract the outsourcing of less complex products that are more prone to reverse engineering and simpler to decodify and imitate.

Knocking on Tax Haven's Door: Multinational Firms and Transfer Pricing

This paper analyzes the transfer pricing of multinational firms. Intrafirm prices may systematically deviate from arm’s-length prices for two motives: pricing to market and tax avoidance. Using French firm-level data on arm’s-length and intrafirm export prices, we find that the sensitivity of intrafirm prices to foreign taxes is reinforced once we control for pricing-to-market determinants. Most important, we find no evidence of tax avoidance if we disregard tax haven destinations. Tax avoidance through transfer pricing is economically sizable. The bulk of this loss is driven by the exports of 450 firms to ten tax havens.

A Structural Model of Export versus Affiliates Production

We derive and estimate an econometric model of export versus foreign production using firm-level data on foreign activities of German multinationals. Proximity-concentration theory which we derive our model from shows that firms face a trade-off between concentrating their production at home to save on plant set-up costs and producing abroad to save on distance costs. Firms facing this trade-off choose between export and foreign production according to their expected profits. The model is brought to the data using a pooled-probit analysis over the period 1996-1999. We find support for the proximity-concentration trade-off. In particular, market size and distance affect positively the probability of foreign production whereas fixed costs have a negative impact on the decision to engage in FDI.

Foreign Language Learning and Trade

The paper is devoted to an econometric analysis of learning foreign languages in all parts of the world. Our sample covers 193 countries and 13 important languages. Four factors significantly explain learning: world population of speakers of home language, trade with speakers of foreign language, linguistic distance between home and foreign language and literacy. Trade may well deserve more emphasis than the other three factors, not only for its significance, but also because its direction can change faster and by a larger order of magnitude. Controlling for any of the 13 target languages, including English, is of no particular importance.

Selective Immigration Policies and Wages Inequality

We quantify the overall impact of immigration on native wages in France from 1990 to 2010. Our short-run simulations indicate that immigration has decreased native wages by 0.6%. We find on average no impact of immigration on wages in the long run. However, we show that the long-run effects of immigration on wages are detrimental to high-skilled native workers and benefits to low-skilled native workers. Our structural estimation allows us to evaluate the impact of “selective” migration policies. In particular, we find that selective immigration policies toward highly educated workers reduce the wage dispersion of French native workers.

The Multinational Wage Premium and Wage Dynamics

Using detailed administrative data linking French firms and workers over the years 2002-2007, we document a distinct U-shaped pattern in worker-level wages surrounding the time their employer is acquired by a foreign firm, with a dip in earnings observed for several years before domestic firms switch to MNE status. This pre-acquisition decline in earnings can partly explain why prior evidence found no impact of foreign ownership on worker-level wages. Accounting for the pre-acquisition earnings dip and other confounding wage dynamics we find that MNEs increase remuneration to workers by 4.8% initially, and by 6%-8% after several years. Unique information about in-kind payments reveals that bonuses and other non-monetary remuneration also exhibit a U-shaped pattern surrounding foreign acquisition.