We show that the international distribution of ownership of the incumbent firms within a host region matters for the efficiency of the fiscal competition between the region’s constituent countries for a new FDI project. If incumbent firms are owned entirely within the host region, then the new...

The substantial within-industry variation in firm productivity typically observed in the data suggests that there is ample scope for catch-up by laggard firms. We analyse the normative effects of such catch-up. In the short run, where firms’ process technologies are fixed, catch-up can reduce...

We set up a trade model where three countries compete for an exogenous number of firms. Our innovation lies in the geography of the model. Of the three countries, one is the hub through which all trade takes place. First, we establish the natural geography of the region, which is given by the...

We introduce bidding costs into a standard model of tax/subsidy competition between two potential host countries to attract a monopoly firm’s plant. Such a bidding cost, even if it is infinitesimal, qualitatively alters the resulting equilibrium. At most one country offers fiscal inducements...

We study the decision of two firms within an oligopoly concerning whether to enter into a horizontal agreement to exploit complementarities between their R&D activities and, if so, whether to merge or form a research joint venture (RJV). In contrast to horizontal merger, there is a probability...

Foreign-owned firms exhibit widely-documented productivity advantages over domestic firms. Building on this stylized fact, we model the relationships between FDI flows and productivity differences across firms within an international oligopoly. Industrial structure is determined endogenously,...

We analyse how union structures that differ in the degree of wage-setting centralization affect the pattern of R&D network formation. Within the context of a three-firm industry, a central union that sets a uniform wage is shown to induce a partial R&D network that includes two firms but...

We investigate the merger decision between two firms in an outsourcing relationship, one upstream and the other downstream. The inter-firm relationship is subject both to ex ante matching uncertainty and to contractual efficiency issues. Cross-border merger is assumed to solve the latter...