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Foreign Direct Investment and Exports with Growing Demand

Author

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  • Rafael Rob

    (Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania)

  • Nikolaos Vettas

    (Department of Economics, University of Athens)

Abstract

We explore entry into a foreign market with uncertain demand growth. A multinational can serve the foreign demand by two modes, or by a combination thereof: it can export its products, or it can create productive capacity via Foreign Direct Investment. The advantage of FDI is that it allows for lower marginal cost than exporting does. The disadvantage is that FDI is irreversible and, hence, entails the risk of creating underutilized capacity in the case that the market turns out to be small. The presence of demand uncertainty and irreversibility gives rise to an interior solution, where the multinational, under certain conditions, both exports its products and does FDI.

Suggested Citation

  • Rafael Rob & Nikolaos Vettas, 2003. "Foreign Direct Investment and Exports with Growing Demand," PIER Working Paper Archive 03-001, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania.
    • Handle: RePEc:pen:papers:03-001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Foreign Direct Investment; Entry; Exports; New Markets;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D8 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty
    • D92 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Intertemporal Firm Choice, Investment, Capacity, and Financing
    • F2 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business

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