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| 2. |
- Bandick, Roger, 1974-
(författare)
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Multinationals, employment and wages : microeconomic evidence from Swedish manufacturing
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis, consisting of four essays, is to study the effects of multinationals and inward FDI on employment and wage formation in Swedish manufacturing during the 1990s. Paper [1] (co-authored with Patrik Karpaty) investigates the employment effects of foreign acquisitions in acquired firms in Swedish manufacturing during the 1990s. To handle likely endogeneity problems we evaluate the effects of foreign acquisitions on the targeted firms’ employment by combining propensity score matching with difference-in-difference estimation. We find some evidence of positive employment effects in firms taken over by foreigners and it seems that the employment of skilled labor increases more than that of less-skilled labor. Moreover, we examine whether the employment impact of foreign ownership differs between takeovers of Swedish MNEs and non-MNEs. Our results indicate that the positive employment effects only appear in acquired non-MNEs. Furthermore, we observe shifts in skill intensities toward higher shares of skilled labor in non-MNEs taken over by foreign MNEs, but not in acquired Swedish MNEs. Paper [2] (co-authored with Pär Hansson) investigates whether the increased foreign ownership in Sweden in the 1990s have had any effects on relative demand for skilled labor. Estimating relative labor demand at the firm level and using propensity score matching with difference-in-difference estimation, we obtain support for relative demand for skilled labor tending to rise in non-multinationals (non-MNEs) but not in multinationals (MNEs) that become foreign owned. Other interesting findings are that a larger presence of foreign MNEs in an industry appears to have a positive impact on the relative demand for skills in Swedish MNEs within the same industry and that the elasticity of substitution between skilled and less-skilled labor seems to be lower in MNEs than in non-MNEs. Paper [3] investigates whether MNEs are more likely than non-MNEs to close down their plants, due to their footloose character. The results from using a panel of all Swedish manufacturing plants over the period 1993 and 2002 suggest that MNE plants, and in particular Swedish MNE plants, have a higher probability of exiting the market than non-MNE plants. The outcome is robust controlling for other variables affecting the survival rates. Among non-MNE plants, the probabilities of exit are higher in non-exporting firms than in exporting firms. Moreover, the increased foreign presence in Swedish manufacturing seems, due to intensified competition, to have led to the higher exit rates of plants in non-exporting non-MNEs. Plants of globally engaged indigenous firms, such as plants of Swedish MNEs and exporting non-MNEs, appear, on the other hand, to have been unaffected by the increased foreign presence. Paper [4] examines whether MNEs Swedish MNEs and foreign-owned firms pay higher wages than non-MNEs in manufacturing, controlling for firm heterogeneity and individual characteristics. In accordance with the idea that MNEs are superior in performance to other firms, I find that MNEs pay higher wages than non-MNEs, in particular for skilled labor. Yet the MNE wage premium is low; the average wages in MNEs are between 4-7 percent higher than in non-MNEs, while estimates at the individual level reduce the wage premium in MNEs to around 2-3 percent. Higher wages in foreign-owned firms may result from foreign acquisitions of high-wage firms. Alternatively, the acquired firms might have a more favorable wage growth than non-targeted domestically owned firms. My findings only lend support to the hypothesis that foreign firms select high-wage firms (especially non-MNEs) for acquisition.
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| 3. |
- Bandick, Roger, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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What happens to R&D in domestic multinationals after foreign acquisition?
- 2011
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Ingår i: VoxEU.org. - : VoxEU.org.
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Annan publikation (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- With foreign ownership of domestic companies becoming increasingly common, questions are mounting as to the consequences. One area of concern is the effect on research and development. This column presents new evidence from Sweden, where flagship firms such as Volvo and Saab are now foreign owned, that it hopes will reassure policymakers.
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| 4. |
- Görg, Holger, et al.
(författare)
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Firm Size Distribution and Employment Fluctuations : Theory and Evidence
- 2016
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper studies the effect of the firm-size distribution on the relationship between employment and output. We construct a theoretical model, which predicts that changes in demand for industry output have larger effects on employment in industries characterised by a distribution that is more skewed towards smaller firms. Industry-specific shape parameters of the firm size distributions are estimated using firm-level data from Germany, Sweden and the UK, and used to augment a relationship between industry-level employment and output. Our empirical results align with the predictions of the theory and confirm that the size distribution of firms is an important determinant of the relationship between changes in output and employment.
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| 5. |
- Görg, Holger, et al.
(författare)
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Firm Size Distribution and Employment Fluctuations : Theory and Evidence
- 2017
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Ingår i: Research in Economics. - : Elsevier BV. - 1090-9443. ; 71:4, s. 690-703
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We show that the firm-size distribution is an important determinant of the relationship between an industry's employment and output. A theoretical model predicts that changes in demand for an industry's output have larger effects on employment, resulting from adjustments at both the intensive and extensive margin, in industries characterised by a distribution that has a lower density of large firms. Industry-specific shape parameters of the firm size distributions are estimated using firm-level data from Germany, Sweden and the UK, and used to augment a relationship between industry-level employment and output. The empirical results align with the predictions of the theory.
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| 6. |
- Karpaty, Patrik, 1967-
(författare)
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Does foreign ownership matter? : Multinational firms, productivity and spillovers
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis consists of four essays dealing with the role of foreign owned firms for the development of productivity and exports in Swedish manufacturing. The essays share a common theme, i.e. that multinational firms (MNF) possess some intangible assets that could be transferred to their affiliates. In Chapter II we find that the foreign-owned firms in Swedish manufacturing have a higher productivity (both level and growth) compared to Swedish domestic firms even after controlling for other variables affecting productivity. Moreover, this is not due to reverse causality, i.e. that foreign investors tend to acquire the most productive Swedish firms and that this would explain the difference in productivity. We also find that Swedish MNFs are as productive as foreign-owned firms and that the productivity effect of foreign ownership may differ according to mode of entry. Greenfield operations are found to be more productive than those in acquired firms. Chapter III revisits the question of whether ownership matters for productivity performance. An extensive literature has shown that it is important to study the counterfactual outcome, i.e. what would the outcome be had the domestic firm never been acquired? We use a propensity score matching estimator to compare similar treated and untreated firms. We then apply the difference-in-difference estimator and show that there is a positive effect on productivity due to foreign acquisition. Moreover, this effect on productivity does not occur immediately but starts around three years post acquisition. Foreign ownership is also found to boost productivity growth, not just the level of productivity. In Chapter IV we analyze whether FDI stimulates the productivity performance in domestic firms in the same industry and/or region or not. While most other studies using firm level data find no evidence of such externalities from FDI, we provide strong evidence for the existence of spillover effects from inward FDI to domestic firms. These spillover effects cannot be explained by reverse causality. We also find that the magnitude of these spillover effects depends on the absorptive capacity (measured as R&D expenditures) of the domestic firms and the nationality of the parent MNF. The last study in this thesis, Chapter V considers whether the effect of increased inward FDI has a positive or negative effect on domestic firms export behavior. The first case may occur as a result of demonstration effects, when local firms learn from foreign MNF to reduce exporting costs. The second may reveal congestion effects, defined here as the case when MNF contribute to congestion of e.g. transport networks or in general add to demand for inputs, driving up their prices, thus increasing costs of exporting for local firms. We also consider whether FDI affect the sunk costs or variable costs of exporting. Our results indicate that congestion effects dominate since increased inward FDI has led to a significant reduction in the probability of export market participation.
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| 7. |
- Kehoe, Laura, et al.
(författare)
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Make EU trade with Brazil sustainable
- 2019
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 364:6438, s. 341-
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 8. |
- Lodefalk, Magnus, 1969-
(författare)
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Tackling barriers to firm trade : liberalisation, migration and servification
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis analyses how to tackle barriers to firm trade and the consequences thereof. In Essay 1, we carefully model trade liberalisation scenarios that include the key elements of the WTO Doha round, scenarios that are implemented in a computable general equilibrium model. The simulation results indicate particularly strong gains for developing countries from liberalisation. A conservative estimate is that global income increases by approximately 0.2-0.7 per cent of initial GDP, depending on the degree of liberalisation, with trade facilitation contributing the most to these results. Overall, simulations indicate the importance of countries’ own liberalisation for national income gains and of a broad-based round of trade negotiations. In Essay 2, we analyse the mechanisms through which immigrant employees help firms overcome informal barriers to trade, based on a heterogeneous- firm trade model. By exploiting a rich employer-employee panel for Sweden, we show that immigrants’ skills and length-of-stay strongly influence their impact on firm trade. The link is also stronger for smaller firms and for differentiated goods, but similar across product margins of trade. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that immigrant employees facilitate firm trade by lowering information frictions and infusing trust into business relationships through knowledge of foreign markets and access to networks. Essay 3 is concerned with structural changes in the Swedish economy with respect to services in manufacturing. Despite suggestive evidence, large gaps remain in our knowledge about the process of servicification, a process whereby manufacturing focuses increasingly on services. We therefore analyse these changes in manufacturing in depth. The results show that manufacturing has been servicifying substantially. In Essay 4, the role of services for manufacturing firm exports is analysed The microeconometric results suggest that service inputs affect a firm’s export capabilities. Overall, Essay 4 provides new firm-level evidence for the role of services as inputs in manufacturing.
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| 9. |
- Pertl, Leonhard, et al.
(författare)
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Exports and Productivity : Comparable Evidence for 14 Countries
- 2007
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Ingår i: Policy Research Working Papers. - New York : World Bank. - 1813-9450.
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Rapport (refereegranskat)abstract
- The authors use comparable micro level panel data for 14 countries and a set of identically specified empirical models to investigate the relationship between exports and productivity. The overall results are in line with the big picture that is by now familiar from the literature: Exporters are more productive than non-exporters when observed and unobserved heterogeneity are controlled for, and these exporter productivity premia tend to increase with the share of exports in total sales; there is strong evidence in favour of self-selection of more productive firms into export markets, but nearly no evidence in favour of the learning-by-exporting hypothesis. The authors document that the exporter premia differ considerably across countries in identically specified empirical models. In a meta-analysis of their results the authors find that countries that are more open and have more effective government report higher productivity premia. However, the level of development per se does not appear to be an explanation for the observed cross-country differences.
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| 10. |
- Warda, Peter
(författare)
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Knowledge, location, and trade
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The purpose of this thesis is to analyze how knowledge contained in traded goods influences firms’ demand for labor, and how knowledge-rich routines across space affect the innovative performance in firms and regions.Four research questions are presented that address how knowledge can travel in space. Each research question forms an individual paper in the thesis and can be read separately. The first part of the thesis gives a general introduction and outlines the theoretical background and motivation for the research questions examined in Papers 1 through 4.Papers 1 and 2 address how the knowledge composition of the labor force in Swedish manufacturing firms is impacted by changes in imported goods. Paper 1 analyzes imports of capital and intermediate goods and how their quality influences labor demand in different firm size categories. In Paper 2 the analysis is directed toward an examination of how offshoring of intermediate goods affects different occupations. The technology-specific content of the offshored intermediate goods is emphasized.Moreover, Papers 3 and 4 address how knowledge embodied in exported goods and codified knowledge in patents are affected by changes in new routines. Paper 3 analyzes how firms’ knowledge absorption capacity affects the development, adoption and introduction of new export products among Swedish manufacturing firms. Finally, the focus in Paper 4 is on innovations measured in terms of local patents production in European regions. In this paper, we analyze how the local patents production in a European region benefits both from local R&D inputs in its own region and from spillovers of R&D inputs in other European regions.
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