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Abstract

This thesis focuses on three empirical aspects of firm-level investments. The first essay, “Does intangible asset intensity Increase Profit-Shifting Opportunities of Multinationals?”, seeks to understand the role that intangible asset intensity plays in determining multinationals' profit-shifting behaviors. I find that, first, intangible asset intensity exacerbates multinationals' profit-shifting behavior, and, second, there is no statistical difference between tech companies with high intangibles intensity and non-tech companies with high intangibles intensity. The second essay “Greenfield FDI Effects through Domestic and International Value Chains”, assesses how Greenfield FDIs propagates and how they affect value-added growth of upstream and downstream industries. I find that - on average - FDIs propagate mainly downstream, wielding primarily a supply-side effect, both domestically and internationally. Further, I find that FDIs in R&D intensive industries increase the value-added growth of the downstream industries significantly more than those FDIs in relatively less R&D-intensive industries. The third essay, “Balance Sheet Effects across Peruvian industries in the Presence of Credit Tightening” examines the effects of real exchange rate depreciation on Peruvian firms' investment expenditure across different segments of the economy, controlling for simultaneous and heterogeneous reduction in credit supply. We find evidence of a balance sheet effect in nontradable, non-commodity, and low-export sectors. We also show that companies further decrease their investments when they depend on credit from less-liquid banks.

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