Linkages with Multinationals: The Effects on Domestic Firms’ Exports

Tuesday, November 16th, 2021
12.30 p.m. – 2.00 p.m. ET
via Zoom

Christian Volpe Martincus, Principal Economist at the Integration and Trade Sector (INT) of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) will present his paper, Linkages with Multinationals: The Effects on Domestic Firms’ Exports.

Abstract: Multinational firms’ affiliates are typically larger, more productive, and more likely to export. Existing empirical evidence suggests that domestic firms that are connected to these affiliates tend to have better export outcomes. However, this evidence relies on firm-to-firm connections that are assumed based on country-level input-output matrices rather than actually observed. In this paper, we examine, whether and how linking up with multinational firms results in improved export performance for domestic firms, using a unique dataset that includes data on firm-to-firm purchases and sales both within and across countries. Our estimation results indicate that selling to a multinational firm is associated with a significant increase in the probability that a domestic firm starts to export, especially to a country where the respective multinational firm is headquartered or has an affiliate. This estimated effect is larger when the multinational firms themselves sell abroad and when the linkage intensity is higher.

About the Speaker:

Christian Volpe Martincus is Principal Economist at the Integration and Trade Sector (INT) of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). He previously worked for the Ministry of the Economy of the Province of Buenos Aires and was advisor at the MERCOSUR Commission of the National Representatives Chamber in Argentina.

He is the technical leader of INT impact evaluation work related to trade and investment operations and initiatives, the INT networks ELSNIT and TIGN, and the INT Trade Policy Research Seminar Series. He has also advised several governments in both Latin American and the Caribbean and OECD countries on export promotion, investment promotion, trade facilitation, and the evaluation of the respective programs.

Christian holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Bonn, Germany and a Master in Economics from the National University of La Plata (Argentina). He has presented in numerous international academic and policy workshops and conferences and has published on international trade and economic geography in several international professional journals. Christian is a CESifo Research Fellow and serves as an Associate Editor for the Review of International Economics.