Informal institutions and comparative advantage of South-based MNEs: Theory and evidence
This paper builds a theory based on “informal institutions” to characterize the comparative advantage of South-based MNEs. MNEs headquartered in countries with poorer state institutions are shown to endogenously invest more in firm-specific institutional capital to compensate for the lack of state i...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | text |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soe_research/2418 https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soe_research/article/3417/viewcontent/Informal_institutions_comparative_advantage_South_av.pdf |
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| Institution: | Singapore Management University |
| Language: | English |
| Summary: | This paper builds a theory based on “informal institutions” to characterize the comparative advantage of South-based MNEs. MNEs headquartered in countries with poorer state institutions are shown to endogenously invest more in firm-specific institutional capital to compensate for the lack of state institutions, and as an optimal response, undertake FDI in countries with weaker institutions. We conduct an extensive test of the theory using worldwide firm-level greenfield FDI flows during 2009–2016, employing (among others) variations in the interaction of prevalence of informal institutions at home and state institutional qualities of host countries, as well as heterogeneity across sectors and firms in their sensitivity to institutional support. |
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