Characteristics of foreign-owned firms in British manufacturing

This paper describes the characteristics of manufacturing establishments in Britain over the period 1980 to 1996. Particular attention is paid to differences between plants of different ownership nationality. The findings suggest that establishments that are always foreign-owned have significantly higher labour productivity than those that remain under domestic ownership. In addition, labour productivity improves faster over time and faster with age in foreign-owned establishments. The difference in labour productivity is matched by an equivalent difference in levels of investment per employee. Establishments that change ownership nationality do not seem to experience very large changes in labour productivity levels. The proportion of skilled workers in the workplace, and wages for both skilled and operative workers are higher in foreign-owned establishments than domestic-owned, in line with differences in labour productivity.foreign direct investment, productivity, multinational firms

Characteristics of Foreign-Owned Firms in British Manufacturing

This paper describes the characteristics of manufacturing establishments in Britain over the period 1980 to 1996, paying particular attention to differences between establishments of different ownership nationalities. The findings suggest that establishments that are always foreign-owned have significantly higher labour productivity than those that remain under domestic ownership. In addition, labour productivity improves faster over time and faster with age in foreign-owned establishments. The difference in labour productivity is matched by an equivalent difference in levels of investment per employee. Establishments that change ownership nationality do not seem to experience very large changes in labour productivity levels. The proportion of skilled workers in the workplace, and wages for both skilled and operative workers are higher in foreign-owned establishments than domestic-owned, in line with differences in labour productivity.

Foreign ownership and productivity: new evidence from the service sector and the R&D lab

This paper examines the relationship between foreign ownership and productivity, paying particular attention to two issues neglected in the existing literature Ö the role of multinationals in service sectors and the importance of R&D activity conducted by foreign multinationals. We review existing theoretical and empirical work, which largely focuses on manufacturing, before presenting new evidence using establishmentlevel data on production, service and R&D activity for the United Kingdom. We find that multinationals play an important role in service sectors and that entry of foreign multinationals by takeover is more prevalent than greenfield investment. We find that British multinationals have lower levels of labour productivity than foreign multinationals, but the difference is less stark in the service sector than in the production sector, and that British multinationals have lower levels of investment and intermediate use per employee. We also find that foreign-owned multinationals conduct a substantial amount of UK R&D. We discuss the implications of these and other findings for the policy debate on incentives to influence multinational firms' location choices.Foreign Investment, Productivity, Knowledge Spillovers

Product market reform and innovation in the EU

European Union countries have implemented widespread reforms to product markets in order to stimulate competition, innovation and economic growth. We provide empirical evidence that the reforms carried out under the EU Single Market Programme (SMP) were associated with increased product market competition, as measured by a reduction in average profitability, and with a subsequent increase in innovation intensity and productivity growth for manufacturing sectors. In our analysis we exploit exogenous variation in the expected impact of the SMP across countries and industries to identify the effects of reforms on average profitability, and the effects of profitability on innovation and productivity growth.

Agglomeration, regional grants and firm location

We examine whether discretionary government grants influence the location of new plants, and how effective these incentives are in the presence of agglomeration and urbanisation externalities. We find evidence that regional industrial structure affects the location of new entrants. Firms in more agglomerated industries locate new plants near to others in the same industry. Firms are also attracted to industrially diversified locations. Foreign multinationals locate new plants near to other foreign-owned plants in the same industry. Fiscal incentives in the form of grants are found to have some effect in attracting plants to specific geographic areas eligible for such aid.Corporation tax

Foreign Ownership and Productivity: New Evidence from the Service Sector and the R&D Lab

This paper examines the relationship between foreign ownership and productivity, paying particular attention totwo issues neglected in the existing literature - the role of multinationals in service sectors and the importanceof R&D activity conducted by foreign multinationals. We review existing theoretical and empirical work, whichlargely focuses on manufacturing, before presenting new evidence using establishment-level data on production,service and R&D activity for the United Kingdom. We find that multinationals play an important role in servicesectors and that entry of foreign multinationals by takeover is more prevalent than greenfield investment. Wefind that British multinationals have lower levels of labour productivity than foreign multinationals, but thedifference is less stark in the service sector than in the production sector, and that British multinationals havelower levels of investment and intermediate use per employee. We also find that foreign-owned multinationalsconduct a substantial amount of UK R&D. We discuss the implications of these and other findings for the policydebate on incentives to influence multinational firms' location choices.Foreign Investment, Productivity, Knowledge Spillovers

The link between product market reform, innovation and EU macroeconomic performance

This report analyses the impact of product market reforms, in the form of the EU Single Market Programme, on the extent of product market competition and the subsequent effects of competition on innovation activity and productivity growth.The report first summarises the main messages from the existing theoretical and empirical literature on the relationship between competition and innovation and uses this to inform the subsequent empirical analysis. The theoretical literature on competition and growth emphasises the importance of economic profits, or rents, in providing incentives for firms to innovate to compete for market position or in order to enter new markets. Increased competition may increase incentives for firms to increase efficiency or to innovate in order to protect or enhance their market position. However, competition may reduce the rewards to innovation or entry into a market and thus discourage these activities.product market reform, macroeconomic performance, Single Market Program, innovation activity, productivity growth, Griffith, Harrison, Simpson

Ancestry-Specific Variation in Rogers' Method of Sex Estimation

Rogers’ (1999, 2009) visual method is a technique for estimating skeletal sex based on four traits of the distal humerus, and is valuable in cases of commingled or fragmented remains when use of more dominant cranial and pelvic methods is not possible. However, Rogers’ initial accuracy of 92% has not been replicated by subsequent tests of the method, and the role of biological ancestry in the accuracy of this method has not been sufficiently addressed. I conducted a blind test of the method on a sample of nineteenth-century American black and white individuals from the Hamann-Todd Collection. This test resulted in an overall accuracy of 67%, ranging from 54–73% between the two groups. These results demonstrate that accurate estimation of sex using the method is two times more likely for a white individual than for an black individual. More research is required to understand the cause of this variation. Prior to applying this method in bioarchaeological and forensic contexts, future should consider these results that the method is not consistently accurate across all human populations. Discipline: Anthropology (Honours) Faculty Mentor: Dr. Hugh McKenzi