Financial constraints and foreign direct investment: firm-level evidence

Low productivity is an important barrier to the cross-border expansion of firms. But firms may also need external finance to shoulder the costs of entering foreign markets. We develop a model of multinational firms facing real and financial barriers to foreign direct investment (FDI), and we analyze their impact on the FDI decision. Theoretically, we show that financial constraints can affect highly productive firms more than firms with low productivity because the former are more likely to expand abroad. We provide empirical evidence based on a detailed dataset of German domestic and multinational firms which contains information on parent-level financial constraints as well as on the location the foreign affiliates. We find that financial factors constrain firms’ foreign investment decisions, an effect felt in particular by firms most likely to consider investing abroad. The locational information in our dataset allows exploiting cross-country differences in contract enforcement. Consistent with theory, we find that poor contract enforcement in the host country has a negative impact on FDI decisions.     

跨国并购和国内并购对企业市场价值的影响及差异:来自中国企业的证据

文章利用2004~2015年BVD(Zephyr)的并购事件研究了中国企业跨国并购和国内并购对企业市场价值影响的差异。事件研究得到以下结论:第一,在公告日窗口两类并购都获得了非负异常收益率,且国内并购的异常收益率不低于跨国并购。第二,分跨国并购目标国来看,如果并购发达国家企业,则获得了非负异常收益率,且两类并购对企业市场价值的影响无显著差异;如果并购发展中国家企业,则没有显著异常收益率,且不高于国内并购。第三,从细分行业来看,高新技术行业的跨国并购没有获得显著异常收益率,且不高于国内并购;无论是传统制造业还是非制造业,国内并购都获得了非负异常收益率,且不低于跨国并购。在此基础上文章利用倾向得分匹配法和倍差法检验了跨国并购与国内并购对企业异常收益率影响的差异,研究发现国内并购创造的市场价值明显高于跨国并购。因此,市场对中国企业的国内并购做出了更加积极的评价。     

Does Foreign Direct Investment Induce Domestic Mergers?

This paper examines the impact of foreign firm entry on the industry consolidation process in a host country that operates through mergers and exits of incumbent firms. Using a three-stage oligopolistic model, the paper shows that foreign direct investment (FDI) may trigger consolidation via a merger since the approval of a domestic merger by the antitrust authority is more likely in the case a foreign firm enters via FDI and a firm’s incentive for a domestic merger is greater and that, in turn, the possibility to merge and become more efficient modifies the outcome of the game by making FDI compared to exports less likely.     

Cross-border mergers with flexible policy regime: The role of efficiency and market size

This study provides a theoretical and empirical framework for understanding the determinants of cross-border mergers. Past literature has focused on the effect of trade liberalization as the key factor triggering international mergers. We introduce the idea of flexible policy regime in which optimal policies are sensitive to whether a cross-border acquisition has taken place or not. In a free-trade model given asymmetries in marginal cost, we find that optimal subsidies decline when firms acquire inefficient foreign firms while optimal subsidies increase when firms acquire efficient firms. We also find that as the efficiency of the acquirer increases, the profitability of the acquisition and hence the likelihood that it takes place also increases. We find that the role of market size in triggering cross-border acquisitions may be limited even with free trade.     

Exchange rate volatility and first-time entry by multinational firms

The model and related empirical examination in this paper demonstrate one reason why previous studies document both positive and negative correlations between exchange rate volatility and observed levels of foreign direct investment. Using a simple model of cross-border mergers and acquisitions, it argues that the source of the volatility is important in resolving the puzzle. An empirical analysis of mergers and acquisitions by individual firms reveal that first-time foreign direct investment is discouraged by monetary volatility originating from the source-country, but can be encouraged by monetary volatility originating in the host country, especially when compared to domestic investment or expansion by existing multinationals. The regressions also reveal a large and positive “euro effect” on the number of first-time cross-border mergers within the European Monetary Union, even when controlling for domestic merger activity.     

不完全信息下跨国兼并模型分析

本文主要通过对不完全信息跨国兼并模型的分析,发现如果没有政府干预,外国企业只要具有成本上的优势,跨国兼并的发生是不可避免的。其中不完全信息并不是市场实现兼并的障碍,而政府在维护、平衡市场兼并效率和社会福利的关系方面中扮演着重要角色。     

Does Foreign Direct Investment Affect the Growth of Local Firms？ The Case of China＇s Electrical and Electronics Industry

Does foreign direct investment(FDI) into developing countries affect the growth of local firms in host countries? Using a dataset of 38 sectors in China’s electrical and electronics industry,in this paper,we analyze whether FDI has a positive effect on local firms,with technology spillovers,added value and increasing total factor productivity,or a negative, market stealing,effect.Estimating the relationship between growth of local firms and investment of foreign firms,our results show that FDI is likely to have a negative impact on the growth of local firms in sectors with large disparities in technology and less experience in business.Therefore,local firms lacking in technology need to find markets with no competition from foreign firms or determine strategies to compensate technology disparities.     

Profitable Mergers in a Cournot Model of Spatial Competition

This paper investigates the profitability and locational effects of mergers when Cournot firms compete in spatially differentiated markets. A two-firm merger is generally profitable because the merged partners can coordinate their location decisions. The merged firm locates its plants outside the market quartiles with distance from the market center being an increasing function of the number of nonmerged firms remaining at the market center. Profitable two-firm mergers reduce competitive pressure, leading to higher prices and reduced consumer surplus. The merger increases total surplus by increased locational efficiency and the increased profits of the merged and nonmerged firms.     

Taxes and the Financial Structure of German Inward FDI

The paper analyses the financial structure of German inward FDI. Intra-company loans granted by the parent should be all the more strongly preferred over equity the lower the tax rate of the parent and the higher the tax rate of the German affiliate. We find that the corporate tax rate of the foreign parent has no significant impact on the financial structure of a German subsidiary. However, among subsidiaries that are directly held by a foreign investor those firms that on average are profitable react more strongly to changes in the German corporate tax rate than this is the case for less profitable firms. This gives support to the frequent concern that high German taxes are partly responsible for the high levels of intra-company loans. Taxation, however, does not fully explain the high levels of intra-company borrowing. Roughly 60 per cent of the cross-border intra-company loans turn out to be held by firms that are running losses. JEL no. F23, H25     

Endogenous Efficiency Gains from Mergers

This article analyzes endogenous efficiency gains from mergers. It considers oligopolistic homogeneous good markets and duopolistic and triopolistic markets under product differentiation (PD) (quantity and price competition). In a two‐stage game, firms invest in cost‐reducing innovation (with and without mergers) and then compete in output/prices. It is found that in homogeneous good markets, all possible mergers generate efficiency gains, and that these are most significant when R&D spillovers are very low or very high. Efficiency gains increase with the number of insiders and generally decrease with the number of outsiders. With PD, in most cases, the merger generates efficiency gains when spillovers and/or PD are sufficiently high. With PD, efficiency gains increase with spillovers, but may increase or decrease with the level of PD. The implications of the results for the relationship between competition and innovation outputs and for merger policy are discussed.     

Sovereign Risk Premia and the International Balance Sheet: Lessons from the European Crisis

The external dimension has emerged as an important factor in the euro debt crisis. The crisis has also shown that fluctuations in risk premia can be dramatic. We investigate the relevance of the net international investment position for sovereign risk perception and the role of market uncertainty in this relation. Furthermore, we ask whether the composition of net external assets, in terms of debt and equity instruments, is relevant in explaining sovereign risk premia and their fluctuations in time. We find that both public debt and NIIP are subject to fluctuations in risk premia; the external variable is more sensitive to the uncertainty of future expectations, and net external debt is what drives this result. Net foreign debt liabilities are associated with a lower government bond yield spread when market optimism justifies their presence with high future growth patterns; however, it becomes an important risk factor for sovereigns when global uncertainty increases and the capacity to repay foreign debt becomes a concern. Portfolio equity and FDI are related to sovereign risk in a stable manner, while a given amount of net external debt can be associated with government yield spread spikes as high as 4 %.     

Who goes where and how? Firm and country characteristics in the choice of FDI type and location

This paper examines the roles of firm and country characteristics in determining multinationals' choice of foreign direct investment (FDI) type and location. Using Korean firm‐level data, we find that highly productive firms are more likely than their less efficient counterparts to invest in tough markets and choose a combined FDI strategy rather than a solely horizontal FDI or vertical FDI strategy across host countries. These findings, consistent with recent theories in international economics, indicate that firm and country heterogeneities play a significant role in determining the FDI strategy of a multinational enterprise.     

Exports versus FDI: An Empirical Test

In a recent paper Helpman, Melitz and Yeaple argue firm heterogeneity leads to self-selection in the structure of international commerce. Only the most productive firms find it profitable to meet the higher costs associated with FDI; the next set of firms finds it profitable to serve foreign markets through exporting; while the least productive firms serve only the domestic market. The paper tests this assumption using the concept of stochastic dominance. Robust support is found for the model, the productivity distribution of multinational firms is found to dominate that of export firms, which in turn dominates that of non-exporters. JEL no. D24, F14, F23     

Tax policy on foreign direct investment in the presence of cross-hauling

Tax Policy on Foreign Direct Investment in the Presence of Cross-Hauling. — The authors develop a partial equilibrium model of foreign direct investment (FDI) in which identical foreign firms locate themselves in a host country to compete with internationally mobile domestic firms in non-tradeable oligopolistic markets for two differentiated commodities. The host country, which is small in the market for FDI, uses lumpsum subsidy (tax) to encourage (discourage) FDI. There is unemployment in the host country. Under this framework, the authors analyse the effect of discriminatory and uniform subsidies on the inflow/outflow of domestic and foreign firms and on employment. They also derive some properties of optimal subsidies.     

Heterogeneity of FDI Export Spillovers and Its Policy Implications: The Experience of China

This paper explores the magnitude and heterogeneity of foreign direct investment (FDI) export spillovers in China. Using a Heckman sample selection model estimated over a rich firm‐level dataset in China's manufacturing sector from 2000 to 2003, we find that FDI exerts significant impacts on the exporting behavior of domestic firms, and such impacts are heterogeneous in that some firms receive positive impacts while others receive negative impacts. The heterogeneity of FDI spillovers has significant policy implications as it indicates that government policies need to be more specific and targeted in order for the benefits of FDI to be reaped.     

并购商誉、超额收益与市场反应——来自中国A股上市公司的证据

本文采用事件研究法,检验2007年-2010年发生并购事件并产生商誉的A殿上市公司并购后的市场反应.实证结果发现,并购协同效应是超额收益的来源,“核心商誉”要素创造了超额收益；并购中的超额支付不能为企业带来超额收益,即“非核心商誉”要素与超额收益不相关.     

Stackelberg横向兼并博弈的分析

文章通过增加"蛇吞象"式兼并分析,扩展了Steffen-Kai-Wieland模型,研究结果表明:无论"大鱼吃小鱼","蛇吞象","强强联合",还是"弱者联合"的兼并,四种兼并对参与企业都是有利可图的.但这些兼并都会提高市场集中度,导致消费者福利下降.     

Financial Statement Comparability and the Efficiency of Acquisition Decisions

This study examines whether acquirers make better acquisition decisions when target firms’ financial statements exhibit greater comparability with industry peer firms. We predict and find that acquirers make more profitable acquisition decisions when target firms’ financial statements are more comparable—as evidenced by higher merger announcement returns, higher acquisition synergies, and better future operating performance. We also find that post‐acquisition goodwill impairments and post‐acquisition divestitures are less likely when target firms’ financial statements are more comparable. Finally, we find that acquirers benefit most from comparability when acquirers’ ex ante information asymmetry is higher, acquirers operate in volatile operating environments, and management knows relatively less about the target. In total, our evidence suggests targets’ financial statement comparability helps acquirers make better acquisition‐investment decisions and fosters more efficient capital allocation.     

中国企业跨国并购外部动因的实证分析

中国企业跨国并购的外部动因有很多,本文主要着重阐述中国企业进行跨国并购所面临的宏观经济因素。选取1990～2008年的数据,运用单位根检验、格兰杰因果关系检验法和方程的回归拟合,以中国的人均GDP、外汇储备和出口为解释变量,跨国并购为被解释变量,对中国企业跨国并购的外部动因进行了实证分析。结果表明中国的人均GDP、外汇储备和出口都是影响中国企业进行跨国并购的重要因素,且人均GDP的影响较其他两个因素明显。     

R&D Investments and Tax Incentives: The Role of Intra-Firm Cross-Border Collaboration*

U.S. multinational corporations increasingly use intra-firm, cross-border research collaboration to disperse R&D across different countries. This paper investigates the implications of such collaboration on the abilities of firms to garner benefits from R&D tax incentives. We find that the association between R&D intensity and tax incentives is three to five times larger when firms have extensive cross-border collaboration connected to a country. We also find that the effect is stronger when local intellectual property protection is weaker and when local innovation resources are higher. Our results suggest that cross-border collaboration helps firms achieve more tax-efficient R&D investments both by reducing the nontax frictions posed by weak intellectual property protection and by increasing the nontax benefits of foreign R&D.