Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protect firms from imitation and are considered crucial to promote innovation and technological diffusion. This paper examines the impact of IPR on import sourcing decisions of multinationals. We consider a framework in which firms offshore production of an...

We analyse the effect of transfer pricing regulations on trade ows. We base our estimation on a panel gravity model, where the transfer pricing regulations are modeled as trade costs. To abstract from any aggregate demand shocks, we focus on intermediate goods in the car industry. Our results...

In a domestic market, a duopoly produces a homogeneous final good, pollution, pollution abatement and R&D. One of the firms (foreign) has superior technology. The government regulates the duopoly by levying a pollution tax to maximize domestic welfare. We consider the potential implementation of...

By developing a linear model in a two-country framework of international price competition, we show how the degree of product differentiation and the cross-country distribution of private firms affect the strategic privatization choices made by governments concerned with their own country’s...

This study shows that when there is multinational competition for foreign acquisition, the strategic use of a consumer welfare argument in regulating foreign market entry leads to a preemptive foreign acquisition. Even under fierce competition, foreign acquisition will emerge as part of a...

This paper examines location choices of multinational enterprises (MNEs). We particularly focus on the consequences of double taxation treaties (DTTs) and corporate profit taxes on the probability to choose a location. DTTs have become a key policy instrument used by countries to regulate...

In this paper, we consider a dynamic search-and-matching problem of a firm with its intermediate input supplier. In our model, a headquarter currently matched with a supplier, has an interest to find and collaborate with a more efficient partner. However, supplier switching through search and...

This volume was prepared by Sebastian Benz while he was working at the Ifo Institute. It was completed in December 2013 and accepted as a doctoral thesis by the Department of Economics at the University of Munich. It includes five self-contained chapters. All chapters discuss different...

This paper analyzes the behavior of firm(s) serving its products to two countries having different consumers in terms of their valuation of product quality. The home-market of firm(s) is a developed country with small population but high valuation of product quality, while the foreign is a...

We examine the determinants of the decision to relocate activities abroad for firms located in OECD countries. We argue that particular firm-specific features play a crucial role for the link between employment protection and relocation. Stricter employment protection laws over time in the...