The IMF Working Papers series is designed to make IMF staff research available to a wide audience. Almost 300 Working Papers are released each year, covering a wide range of theoretical and analytical topics, including balance of payments, monetary and fiscal issues, global liquidity, and...

We analyze the influence of endogenous competitiveness on multinational activity. Competitiveness is endogenized by assuming that firms differ on R&D commitment power, i.e.: some firms are leaders in R&D. We show that firms with higher commitment power tend to invest more in R&D and consequently...

Foreign direct investors face uncertainty about government's type of the host country. In a two period game, we allow the host country's government to mitigate such uncertainty by sending a signal through fiscal policy. Our main finding states that a populist government may mimic a conservative...