The paper argues that cost of capital comparisons across closely held companies and entrepreneurial ventures on the one hand and widely held companies on the other, ought not to be based on an equal level assumption regarding the investors' required rates of return, net of taxes. Theoretical...

In Europe, accounting standards prevent larger expenditures on employer-sponsored training from being treated as investments. Using Sweden as example, we discuss two consequences for training. First, the timing: training will be conducted when income is large enough for training costs to be...

Investment liberalizing countries are often concerned that cross-border mergers & acquisitions, in contrast to greenfield investments, might have an adverse effect on domestic firms and consumers. However, given that domestic assets are sufficiently scarce, we identify a preemption effect and an...

This study explores how relative skilled-wage premia affect FDI. Contrary to previous studies based on factor endowment differences, we find strong support for vertical FDI, in the sense that more FDI is conducted in countries where unskilled labor is relatively cheap. In addition, we find t hat...

This paper studies privatization policy in an international oligopoly. The argument that equal treatment of foreign investors will be detrimental to domestic welfare by shifting profits from domestic to foreign firms is shown to be less relevant in privatization auctions than in greenfield FDI...

This paper analyzes corporate restructuring and its role in generating labor productivity growth in a sample of large Swedish manufacturing corporations. It is found that external restructuring, including ownership changes, start-ups and closures of plants, accounted for up to 47 percent of the...

The paper serves as a documentation of the survey IUI has conducted on Swedish multinational firms (MNEs) in 2004. It describes recent trends in the operations of Swedish multinational firms participating in the survey and foreign direct investment (FDI) of Swedish firms in general. The survey...

This paper presents evidence that, in Europe, production of high-tech goods is attracted to large markets, while R&D activities tend to be located away from them. In order to explain this phenomenon, we develop a two-country general equilibrium model where firms make separate choices about the...

We examine the effect of corruption on foreign direct investments. Our model shows that corruption may have different effects on investments aimed at selling to a local market, in comparison to investments aimed at selling from the corrupt market. Using Swedish firm-level data, we find that...