We analyze tax competition between two countries of unequal size trying to attract a foreign-owned monopolist. When regional governments have only a lump-sum profit tax (subsidy) at their disposal, but face exogenous and identical transport costs for imports, then both countries will always...

We show that the static duopoly model in which firms choose between exporting and foreign direct investment is often a prisoners' dilemma game in which a switch from exporting to foreign direct investment reduces profits. By contrast, we show that when the game is repeated there is a range of...

Empirical evidence shows that an increase in trade liberalisation causes an increase in foreign direct investments (FDIs). Here we propose an explanation to this apparent puzzle by exploiting the intensity of competition in a Bertrand duopoly with convex costs where the two firms enter in a new...

Do multinational firms wield more market power than their domestic counterparts? Using Hungarian firm-level data between 1993 and 2007, we find that markups are 19 percent higher for foreign-owned firms than for domestically owned firms. Moreover, markups for domestically owned firms are...

This paper analyzes the welfare effects of subsidies to attract multinational corporations, in a setting where firms are heterogeneous in their productivity levels. I show that the use of a small subsidy raises welfare in the FDI host country, with the consumption gains from attracting more...

We endogenize the formation of domestic trade policy in a duopoly composed of a domestic firm and a foreign firm. The foreign firm can undertake foreign direct investment (FDI) in the domestic market should trade policies become too stringent. We model trade policy formation as a common agency...

Post-production services, such as sales, distribution, and maintenance, comprise a crucial element of business activity. A foreign firm faces a higher cost to perform such services than its domestic rival because of the lack of proximity to customers. We explore an international duopoly model in...

Note: The following is a description of the paper and not the actual abstract. We consider a model where firms from a high-cost source country shift some of their production to a low-cost host country. Firms earn profits since the output market is a Cournot oligopoly. Due to a fixed supply of...

We study the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) policies when source firms locate some production in two host countries. By reducing its tax on multinational production, a host country can attract additional FDI, some of which is diverted from other host countries. The shift in FDI causes...

Empirical evidence shows that an increase in trade liberalization causes an increase in foreign direct investments (FDIs). Here we propose an explanation to this apparent puzzle by exploiting the intensity of competition in a Bertrand duopoly with convex costs where the two firms enter in a new...