Foreign Research and Development and Host Country Environment: An Empirical Examination of U.S. International R&D

Multinational corporations (MNCs) are continuing to internationalize their research and development (R& D) activities. Some country environments are more conducive to such investments than others. In this study, we evaluate the influence of host country factors on foreign R& D investment. Using the just-released US government 1999 benchmark survey of US MNC activities abroad, and country-level data compiled from a variety of sources, we measure the impact of host country economic, institutional, scientific, and telecommunications infrastructure on US MNC foreign R& D activities.