Firms play a critical role in the global economy. In this paper, we survey the behavior of firms in the international economy, both in theory and in the data. We first summarize the key empirical facts that motivate the study of firms in trade. Then, we detail recent theoretical developments on...

We consider two channels via which foreign inputs into industrial production may lead to productivity effects. The first one concerns dynamic externalities between firms which share technical and organizational knowledge which is vital for the productivity growth of a particular industry. We...

International operating firms often follow complex market supply strategies, ranging from Exports and Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) to regional Export Hubs. Explaining the driving forces behind multinational setups and their influence on the agglomeration-core pattern has become an emerging...

We introduce a simple oligopolistic trade model with international transportation costs, and analyze the profitability and the social desirability of national vs. international mergers in relation to three different issues, (i) the level of trade freeness, (ii) the possibility of rent...

This paper is a simple extension of the standard FDI model of Markusen and Horstmann (1992). This latter predicts firms would supply nearby markets with exports but far away markets with FDI. Nevertheless, this does not match the spatial pattern in the data for many home nations and industries....

Whereas many empirical studies show that the internationalization of production is driven by falling distance costs, theoretical models of the endogenous emergence of multinational enterprises predict the opposite. This paper argues that this dichotomy can be resolved if the production process...

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

We introduce a simple oligopolistic trade model with international transportation costs, and analyze the profitability and the social desirability of national vs. international mergers in relation to three different issues, (i) the level of trade freeness, (ii) the possibility of rent...

We extend the Behrens et al. (2009) general equilibrium heterogeneous firms framework by horizontal foreign direct investment. The model features endogenously determined firm entrants, wages, productivity cutoff s, flexible price markups and allows for wage differentials across countries in...

This accessible introduction to the world economy and to the theory and practice of globalization argues that key topics in international economics cannot be understood without knowledge of international business, and vice versa. It reviews and combines insights from both literatures and applies...