Simulating heterogeneous multinational firms

This paper develops a micro-simulation framework for multinational entry and sales activities across countries. The model is based on Eaton, Kortum, and Kramarz's (2010) quantitative trade model adapted towards multinational production. Using micro data on Japanese manufacturing firms, we first stylize the empirical regularities of multinational entry and sales activity and estimate the model's structural parameters with simulated method of moments. We then demonstrate that our adapted model is able to replicate important dimensions of the in-sample moments conditioned in our estimation strategy. Importantly, it is able to replicate activity under an economic period with a far different level of FDI barriers than was conditioned upon in our estimation sample. Overall, our research highlights the richness of the simulation framework for performing counterfactual analysis of various FDI policies.

Economic restructuring and regional distrubution of enterprises in Vietnam

The change in the ownership structure of enterprises was one of the major features of the Vietnamese economy in the 2000s. Of the three sectors of state, private and FDI, the state sector, which employed the majority of enterprise workers at the beginning of the 2000s, became the smallest by the end of the decade. One of the factors contributing to such phenomenon was SOE restructuring. Earlier SOE restructuring in the early 1990s is said to have resulted in increased economic inequality among provinces. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the impact of the SOE restructuring and related changes in the ownership structure of enterprises on the regional distribution of economic activities in the 2000s.