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Innovation in the Global Firm

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  • L. Kamran Bilir
  • Eduardo Morales

Abstract

How global are the gains from innovation? When firms operate plants in multiple countries, technological improvements developed in one location may be shared with foreign sites for efficiency gain. We develop a model that accounts for such transfer and apply it to measure returns to R&D investment for a panel of US multinationals. Our estimates indicate that innovation increases performance at firm locations beyond the innovating site: the median multinational firm realizes abroad 20% of the return to its US R&D investment, revealing a spatial disconnect between the costs and potential gains of policies that encourage multinationals’ US innovation.

Suggested Citation

  • L. Kamran Bilir & Eduardo Morales, 2020. "Innovation in the Global Firm," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(4), pages 1566-1625.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jpolec:doi:10.1086/705418
    DOI: 10.1086/705418
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    Cited by:

    1. Leone, Fabrizio, 2021. "Foreign Ownership and Robot Adoption," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Docweb) 2111, CEPREMAP.
    2. Zhou, Xi & Xiao, Min & Wu, Huiying & You, Jiaxing, 2024. "Does policy uncertainty travel across borders? Evidence from MNC subsidiary investment decisions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    3. Mark Vancauteren & Ahmed Boutorat & Oscar Lemmers, 2024. "Import Competition, Destinations, and Firms’ Patent Strategies," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(1), pages 4284-4314, March.
    4. Michele Fioretti & Alessandro Iaria & Aljoscha Janssen & Robert K Perrons & Clément Mazet-Sonilhac, 2022. "Innovation Begets Innovation and Concentration: the Case of Upstream Oil & Gas in the North Sea," SciencePo Working papers hal-03791971, HAL.
    5. Knoll, Bodo & Riedel, Nadine & Schwab, Thomas & Todtenhaupt, Maximilian & Voget, Johannes, 2021. "Cross-border effects of R&D tax incentives," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(9).
    6. Amendolagine, Vito & De Pascale, Gianluigi & Faccilongo, Nicola, 2021. "International capital mobility and corporate tax revenues: How do controlled foreign company rules and innovation shape this relationship?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    7. Long, Yingzi & Cai, Dapeng, 2023. "Why do governments subsidize R&D-Intensive foreign direct investment?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    8. Haufler, Andreas & Schindler, Dirk, 2023. "Attracting profit shifting or fostering innovation? On patent boxes and R&D subsidies," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    9. Wang, Xun, 2022. "Capital account liberalization, financial dependence and technological innovation: Cross-country evidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    10. Sharma, Rohit & Jain, Geetika & Paul, Justin, 2023. "Does the world need to change its vaccine distribution strategy for COVID-19?," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    11. Gong, Robin Kaiji, 2023. "The local technology spillovers of multinational firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    12. Vanessa I. Alviarez & Javier Cravino & Natalia Ramondo, 2020. "Firm-Embedded Productivity and Cross-Country Income Differences," NBER Working Papers 27915, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Anagnostopoulos, Alexios & Atesagaoglu, Orhan Erem & Faraglia, Elisa & Giannitsarou, Chryssi, 2022. "Cross country stock market comovement: A macro perspective," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 34-48.
    14. García-Vega, María & Gupta, Apoorva & Kneller, Richard, 2023. "Is acquisition-FDI during an economic crisis detrimental for domestic innovation?," DICE Discussion Papers 403, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    15. Haishi Li, 2023. "Multinational Production and Global Shock Propagation during the Great Recession," CESifo Working Paper Series 10349, CESifo.
    16. Janssen, Aljoscha, 2022. "Innovation Begets Innovation and Concentration: The Case of Upstream Oil & Gas in the North Sea," Working Paper Series 1431, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    17. Zhang, Hongyan & Zhang, Lin, 2023. "Public support and energy innovation: Why do firms react differently?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    18. Marcus Biermann, 2022. "The role of management practices in acquisitions and the FDI location decision," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 137-165, February.
    19. Pranvera Shehaj & Alfons J. Weichenrieder, 2024. "Corporate income tax, IP boxes and the location of R&D," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 31(1), pages 203-242, February.
    20. Zhang, Hongyan & Gao, Shuaizhi & Zhou, Peng, 2023. "Role of digitalization in energy storage technological innovation: Evidence from China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).

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