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The Review of Economics and Statistics Vol. 89 No. 1 2007

Agglomeration, Adjustment, and State Policies in the Location of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States

Gustavo J. Bobonis1; Howard J. Shatz2

1 University of Toronto · 2 RAND Corporation

Abstract

Using U.S. state-level data we show that agglomeration externalities influence the level of foreign-invested capital in a location. Our empirical model allows the separation of agglomeration effects from the rate of capital stock adjustment, two forces that previous research has conflated. We estimate an agglomeration elasticity of investment of 0.11 to 0.15 with respect to same-source-country investment, lower than previous estimates. We also investigate the influence of state policies and find that although general investment incentives do not affect the location of FDI, targeted policies such as unitary taxation and state foreign offices influence investment.

DOI
10.1162/rest.89.1.30
Volume
89
Issue
1
Pages
30-43
Language
en
Sources
crossref openalex

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