We develop a model with two asymmetric countries. Firms choose the number andthe location of plants that they operate. The production of each firm increases whentrade costs fall. The fall also induces multinationals to repatriate their production intoa single country, which is likely to be the...

Im Rahmen der Diplomarbeit ist in Zusammenarbeit mit der IHK zu Schwerineine Befragung der Unternehmen des verarbeitenden Gewerbes und derDienstleistungsbranche Westmecklenburgs zum Thema "Analyse der Auslandsaktivitätenvon Unternehmen in Westmecklenburg" durchzuführen.Die Analyse soll dazu...

A growing strand of literature highlights that skilled migration mayfavour growth-enhancing technology transfer, trade and foreign direct in-vestments between the source and the host economies of migrants (net-work effects). We explore a speci…c channel through which the possi-ble "diaspora...

We consider the plant location decision of a multinational, which has the option to invest in a more or aless technologically advanced country. We find that in the absence of exporting by the local firms, themultinational will invest in the country lagging behind, unless the firms in that...

We construct a model of offshoring with externalities and firm heterogeneity. Due to thepresence of externalities, temporary shocks like the Y2K problem can have permanenteffects, i.e., they can permanently raise the extent of offshoring in an industry. Also, the initialadvantage of a country as...

Significant amount of vertical technology transfer occurs betweendeveloped and developing country firms, yet the literature on intellectual propertyrights did not pay much attention to this aspect...

In this paper, we provide an explanation of why privatization may attract foreign investorsinterested in entering a regional market. Privatization turns the formerly-public firm into a lessaggressive competitor since profit- maximizing output is lower than the welfare-maximizingone. The drawback...

This paper explores the role of country asymmetries for trade and industrial policies withheterogeneous firms. Our analysis delivers a number of novel results. First, trade policies,infrastructure policies and industrial policies which improve the business conditions in onecountry have negative...

This paper uses an oligopoly model with heterogeneous firms to examine how an industryadjusts to rising import competition. The model predicts that in the short run the least efficientfirms in the industry become inactive, surviving firms face a fall in output, mark-ups andprofits, and the...

The robust empirical finding that exporting firms are systematically different from firms thatmerely serve domestic consumers has inspired the development of a new brand of tradetheory, the theory of heterogeneous firms and trade. The establishment of a canonical modeldue to Melitz (2003) has...