Spring 2012
Announcements:
List of potential research topics
List of past students' research topics
An example of a good student term paper
Lecture Notes Update:
Lecture notes 1 Lecture notes 2 Lecture notes 3
Lecture notes 4 Lecture notes 5 Lecture notes 6
Homework Assignments:
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Part 1: Positive aspects of MNEs
(Note: all papers can be accessed via CBS network, or through CBS off-campus authorization)
Week 5 (03.02) Course Overview
(PD & NJ) Navaretti, GB and A. Venables. 2004. “Chapter One: Facts and Issues,” in Multinational Firms in the World Economy, Princeton University Press.other readings: two pieces on Apple and the iPhone economy
2. Apple - the most profitable company
Week 6 (10.02) An Introduction to Firm Theory in MNE’s Context
(PD) Hart, Oliver. 1989. “An Economist Perspective on the Theory of Firm.” Columbia Law Review, 89(1): 1757-1774.Holstrom, Bengt and John Roberts. 1998. “The Boundaries of the Firm Revisited.” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 12(4): 73-94.
Week 7 (17.02) The Rise of Multinational Firms – the OLI Framework
(PD) Ethier, Wilfred. 1986. “The Multinational Firm.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 101(4): 805-833.Friedman, Milton. 1953. “The Methodology in Positive Economics.” In Essays in Positive Economics, University of Chicago Press, pp. 3-43.
Week 8 (21.02) The Determinants of FDI Structure
(PD) Yeaple, Stephen. 2003. “The Role of Skill Endowment in the Structure of the US Outward Foreign Direct Investment.” Review of Economics and Statistics, 85(3): 726-734.
Week 9 (28.02) MNE’s Decision Choice
(PD) Hanson, G., R. Mataloni and Matt Slaughter. 2001. “Expansion Strategies of US Multinational Firms.” NBER Working Papers, w8433.
Week 10 (06.03) MNEs Under Market Frictions
(PD) Antras, Pol, et al. 2009. “Multinational Firms, FDI Flows, And Imperfect Capital Markets.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 124(3): 1171-1219.Exercises (Group 1 presentation): Bernard, A., J. Jensen, S. Redding, and P. Schott. 2010. “Intra-Firm Trade and Product Contractibility.” American Economic Review, 100(2): 444-448.
Part 2: Normative aspects of MNEs and interaction with policy
Week 11 (13.03) Impact of MNEs on Host Countries, Part I
(PD) Javorcik, Beata Smarzynska. 2004. “Does Foreign Direct Investment Increase the Productivity of Domestic Firms? In Search of Spillovers through Backward Linkages." American Economic Review, 94(3):605-627.Exercises (Group 2 presentation): Swenson, Deborah. 2008. “Multinationals and the Creation of Chinese Trade Linkages.” Canadian Journal of Economics, 41(2): 596-618 .
Week 12 (20.03) Impact of FDI on Host Countries, Part II
Deng, Paul and Gary Jefferson. 2009. “Foreign Entry and Heterogeneous Growth of Firms: Do We Observe ‘Creative Destruction’ in China?.” Working Paper, Department of Economics, Brandeis University.
(PD) Harrison, Ann and Brian Aitken. 1999. "Do Domestic Firms Benefit from Direct Foreign Investment? Evidence from Venezuela." American Economic Review, 89(3), 605-618.
Exercises (Group 3 presenation): Impact of FDI with firm heterogeneity
NJ will take ove the rest of the course.
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