IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cpr/ceprdp/11637.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The growth of multinational firms in the Great Recession

Author

Listed:
  • Levchenko, Andrei
  • Alviarez, Vanessa
  • Cravino, Javier

Abstract

Using a large firm-level dataset, this paper studies multinational firms’ performance during the Great Recession. Foreign multinationals grew faster than local firms outside of the crisis, but slower during the crisis. Industry and size differences between domestic and foreign-owned firms account for much of this slowdown. However, multinationals from different countries performed differently during the crisis. The paper then assesses the role of multinationals in the global recession using a quantitative model. Had multinationals’ relative performance remained unchanged during the crisis, the median country’s aggregate growth would have been 0.12% higher, with a range of -0.13 to 0.5% across countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Levchenko, Andrei & Alviarez, Vanessa & Cravino, Javier, 2016. "The growth of multinational firms in the Great Recession," CEPR Discussion Papers 11637, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11637
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cepr.org/publications/DP11637
    Download Restriction: CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Javier Cravino & Andrei A. Levchenko, 2017. "Multinational Firms and International Business Cycle Transmission," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(2), pages 921-962.
    2. Christian Broda & David E. Weinstein, 2006. "Globalization and the Gains From Variety," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 121(2), pages 541-585.
    3. Mark Gertler & Simon Gilchrist, 1994. "Monetary Policy, Business Cycles, and the Behavior of Small Manufacturing Firms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(2), pages 309-340.
    4. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/59cr4u3mmr9pobrceptvua5g8c is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Raj Chetty & Adam Guren & Day Manoli & Andrea Weber, 2013. "Does Indivisible Labor Explain the Difference between Micro and Macro Elasticities? A Meta-Analysis of Extensive Margin Elasticities," NBER Macroeconomics Annual, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(1), pages 1-56.
    6. Berkmen, S. Pelin & Gelos, Gaston & Rennhack, Robert & Walsh, James P., 2012. "The global financial crisis: Explaining cross-country differences in the output impact," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 42-59.
    7. Philip R Lane & Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti, 2011. "The Cross-Country Incidence of the Global Crisis," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 59(1), pages 77-110, April.
    8. Andrei A. Levchenko & Logan Lewis & Linda L. Tesar, 2009. "The Collapse of International Trade During the 2008-2009 Crisis: In Search of the Smoking Gun," Working Papers 592, Research Seminar in International Economics, University of Michigan.
    9. Sutton, John, 2002. "The variance of firm growth rates: the ‘scaling’ puzzle," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 312(3), pages 577-590.
    10. Natalia Ramondo & Andrés Rodríguez-Clare, 2013. "Trade, Multinational Production, and the Gains from Openness," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 121(2), pages 273-322.
    11. Julian di Giovanni & Andrei A. Levchenko & Isabelle Mejean, 2014. "Firms, Destinations, and Aggregate Fluctuations," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 82(4), pages 1303-1340, July.
    12. Teresa C Fort & John Haltiwanger & Ron S Jarmin & Javier Miranda, 2013. "How Firms Respond to Business Cycles: The Role of Firm Age and Firm Size," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 61(3), pages 520-559, August.
    13. Giuseppe Moscarini & Fabien Postel-Vinay, 2012. "The Contribution of Large and Small Employers to Job Creation in Times of High and Low Unemployment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(6), pages 2509-2539, October.
    14. Olivier J. Blanchard & Mitali Das & Hamid Faruqee, 2010. "The Initial Impact of the Crisis on Emerging Market Countries," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 41(1 (Spring), pages 263-323.
    15. Andrei A Levchenko & Logan T Lewis & Linda L Tesar, 2010. "The Collapse of International Trade during the 2008–09 Crisis: In Search of the Smoking Gun," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 58(2), pages 214-253, December.
    16. Alviarez, Vanessa, 2019. "Multinational production and comparative advantage," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 1-54.
    17. Jonathan Eaton & Samuel Kortum & Brent Neiman & John Romalis, 2016. "Trade and the Global Recession," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(11), pages 3401-3438, November.
    18. repec:dgr:rugsom:12005-eef is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Ramondo, Natalia, 2014. "A quantitative approach to multinational production," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 108-122.
    20. Rudolfs Bems & Robert C. Johnson & Kei-Mu Yi, 2013. "The Great Trade Collapse," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 5(1), pages 375-400, May.
    21. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/59cr4u3mmr9pobrceptvua5g8c is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Greenwood, Jeremy & Hercowitz, Zvi & Huffman, Gregory W, 1988. "Investment, Capacity Utilization, and the Real Business Cycle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(3), pages 402-417, June.
    23. Rudolfs Bems & Robert C Johnson & Kei-Mu Yi, 2010. "Demand Spillovers and the Collapse of Trade in the Global Recession," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 58(2), pages 295-326, December.
    24. Laura Alfaro & Maggie Xiaoyang Chen, 2012. "Surviving the Global Financial Crisis: Foreign Ownership and Establishment Performance," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 4(3), pages 30-55, August.
    25. Lin, Justin Yifu & Treichel, Volker, 2012. "The unexpected global financial crisis : researching its root cause," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5937, The World Bank.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Exadaktylos, Dimitrios & Riccaboni, Massimo & Rungi, Armando, 2024. "Talents from abroad. Foreign managers and productivity in the United Kingdom," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    2. Jacob A. Jordaan, 2023. "Firm‐level characteristics and the impact of COVID‐19: Examining the effects of foreign ownership and international trade," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(7), pages 1967-1998, July.
    3. Phan, Dinh Hoang Bach & Tran, Vuong Thao & Nguyen, Dat Thanh & Le, Anh, 2020. "The importance of managerial ability on crude oil price uncertainty-firm performance relationship," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    4. Julian di Giovanni & Andrei A. Levchenko & Isabelle Mejean, 2024. "Foreign Shocks as Granular Fluctuations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 132(2), pages 391-433.
    5. Dimitrios Exadactylos & Massimo Riccaboni & Armando Rungi, 2019. "Talents from Abroad. Foreign Managers and Productivity in the United Kingdom," Working Papers 01/2019, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, revised Dec 2019.
    6. Apoorva Gupta, 2019. "R&D and firm resilience during bad times," Discussion Papers 2019-12, University of Nottingham, GEP.
    7. Thi van Hoang & Călin Gurău & Amine Lahiani & Thuy-Luu Seran, 2017. "Do crises impact capital structure? A study of French micro-enterprises," Post-Print hal-03608784, HAL.
    8. Thi Hong Hoang & Călin Gurău & Amine Lahiani & Thuy-Luu Seran, 2018. "Do crises impact capital structure? A study of French micro-enterprises," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 181-199, January.
    9. Latorre, María C. & Yonezawa, Hidemichi, 2018. "Stopped TTIP? Its potential impact on the world and the role of neglected FDI," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 99-120.
    10. Damioli, Giacomo & Gregori, Wildmer Daniel, 2023. "Diplomatic relations and cross-border investments in the European Union," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    11. Armando Rungi & Loredana Fattorini & Kenan Huremovic, 2020. "Measuring the Input Rank in Global Supply Networks," Papers 2001.08003, arXiv.org, revised Sep 2020.
    12. Mina, Andrea & Santoleri, Pietro, 2021. "The effect of the Great Recession on the employment growth of young vs. small firms in the Eurozone," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 184-194.
    13. Davide Del Prete & Armando Rungi, 2020. "Backward and Forward Integration Along Global Value Chains," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 57(2), pages 263-283, September.
    14. Gupta, Apoorva, 2020. "R&D and firm resilience during bad times," DICE Discussion Papers 352, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    15. Del Prete, Davide & Rungi, Armando, 2017. "Organizing the global value chain: A firm-level test," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 16-30.
    16. Ruud Mooij & Li Liu, 2020. "At a Cost: The Real Effects of Transfer Pricing Regulations," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 68(1), pages 268-306, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alexandra Born & Zeno Enders, 2019. "Global Banking, Trade, and the International Transmission of the Great Recession," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(623), pages 2691-2721.
    2. Javier Cravino & Andrei A. Levchenko, 2017. "Multinational Firms and International Business Cycle Transmission," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(2), pages 921-962.
    3. Haishi Li, 2023. "Multinational Production and Global Shock Propagation during the Great Recession," CESifo Working Paper Series 10349, CESifo.
    4. William F. Lincoln & Andrew H. McCallum & Michael Siemer, 2017. "The Great Recession and a Missing Generation of Exporters," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2017-108, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    5. Arne J. Nagengast & Robert Stehrer, 2016. "The Great Collapse in Value Added Trade," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 392-421, May.
    6. Julian di Giovanni & Andrei A. Levchenko & Isabelle Mejean, 2024. "Foreign Shocks as Granular Fluctuations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 132(2), pages 391-433.
    7. William Lincoln & Andrew McCallum & Michael Siemer, 2018. "The Great Recession and a Missing Generation of Exporters," 2018 Meeting Papers 558, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    8. William F. Lincoln & Andrew H. McCallum & Michael Siemer, 2018. "The Great Recession and a Missing Generation of Exporters," Working Papers 18-33, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    9. Chen, Natalie & Juvenal, Luciana, 2018. "Quality and the Great Trade Collapse," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 59-76.
    10. Leibovici, Fernando & Waugh, Michael E., 2019. "International trade and intertemporal substitution," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 158-174.
    11. Youssouf Kiendrebeogo, 2020. "How do banking crises affect bilateral exports?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 58(3), pages 1431-1459, March.
    12. Kevin Hjortshøj O’Rourke, 2018. "Two Great Trade Collapses: The Interwar Period and Great Recession Compared," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 66(3), pages 418-439, September.
    13. Claessens, Stijn & Tong, Hui & Wei, Shang-Jin, 2012. "From the financial crisis to the real economy: Using firm-level data to identify transmission channels," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 375-387.
    14. Alan de Bromhead & Alan Fernihough & Markus Lampe & Kevin Hjortshøj O'Rourke, 2021. "Four great Asian trade collapses," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(2), pages 159-185, July.
    15. Ana P. Fernandes & Heiwai Tang, 2020. "How Did the 2003 SARS Epidemic Shape Chinese Trade?," CESifo Working Paper Series 8312, CESifo.
    16. A. M. M. Shahiduzzaman Quoreshi & Trudy-Ann Stone, 2019. "Do Global Value Chains Make Firms More Vulnerable to Trade Shocks?—Evidence from Manufacturing Firms in Sweden," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-16, September.
    17. Pahl, Stefan & Brandi, Clara & Schwab, Jakob & Stender, Frederik, 2020. "Cling together, swing together: The contagious effects of COVID-19 on developing countries through global value chains," IDOS Discussion Papers 21/2020, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    18. Nadia Garbellini & Enrico Marelli & Ariel Luis Wirkierman, 2014. "Domestic demand and global production in the Eurozone: A multi-regional input-output assessment of the global crisis," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(3), pages 336-364, May.
    19. Pablo Mejia Reyes & Miguel Angel Diaz Carreño, 2015. "Effects of the Great Recession on state output in Mexico," EconoQuantum, Revista de Economia y Negocios, Universidad de Guadalajara, Centro Universitario de Ciencias Economico Administrativas, Departamento de Metodos Cuantitativos y Maestria en Economia., vol. 12(2), pages 25-45, Julio-Dic.
    20. Pablo Mejia-Reyes & Miguel Angel Diaz-Carreno, 2015. "Effects of the Great Recession on state output in Mexico," EconoQuantum, Revista de Economia y Finanzas, Universidad de Guadalajara, Centro Universitario de Ciencias Economico Administrativas, Departamento de Metodos Cuantitativos y Maestria en Economia., vol. 12(2), pages 25-45, Julio-Dic.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Great recession; Multinational firms;

    JEL classification:

    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • F44 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - International Business Cycles

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11637. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cepr.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.