Export versus FDI with Heterogeneous Firms

Abstract

Multinational sales have grown at high rates over the last two decades, outpacing the remark-able expansion of trade in manufactures. Con-sequently, the trade literature has sought to incorporate the mode of foreign market access into the “new ” trade theory. This literature rec-ognizes that firms can serve foreign buyers through a variety of channels: they can export their products to foreign customers, serve them through foreign subsidiaries, or license foreign firms to produce their products. Our work focuses on the firm’s choice be-tween exports and “horizontal ” foreign direct investment (FDI). Horizontal FDI refers to an investment in a foreign production facility tha