The International Propagation of Economic Downturns Through Multinational Companies: The Real Economy Channel

82 Pages Posted: 3 May 2017 Last revised: 3 Nov 2021

See all articles by Jan Bena

Jan Bena

University of British Columbia - Sauder School of Business

Serdar Dinc

Rutgers University

Isil Erel

Ohio State University (OSU) - Department of Finance; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: September 13, 2020

Abstract

We study how non-financial multinational companies propagate economic declines from their subsidiaries located in countries experiencing an economic downturn to subsidiaries in countries not experiencing one. We find that investment is 18% lower in subsidiaries of these parents relative to the same-industry, same-country subsidiaries of parents that are headquartered in the same parent country but do not have a subsidiary in a country experiencing an economic downturn. The employment growth rate in the affected subsidiaries is zero or negative while it is 1.4% in the subsidiaries of unaffected parents. The aggregate industry-level sales and employment are also negatively impacted in the countries of the affected subsidiaries.

Keywords: Propagation, Contagion, Real Economy Channel, Investment, MNC

JEL Classification: G01, G31, F23

Suggested Citation

Bena, Jan and Dinc, Serdar and Erel, Isil, The International Propagation of Economic Downturns Through Multinational Companies: The Real Economy Channel (September 13, 2020). Fisher College of Business Working Paper No. 2017-03-011, Charles A. Dice Center Working Paper No. 2017-11, Journal of Financial Economics (JFE), Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2962389 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2962389

Jan Bena

University of British Columbia - Sauder School of Business ( email )

2053 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2
Canada
+1 604 822 8490 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.janbena.com

Serdar Dinc

Rutgers University ( email )

111 Washington Avenue
Newark, NJ 07102
United States

HOME PAGE: http://serdardinc.com

Isil Erel (Contact Author)

Ohio State University (OSU) - Department of Finance ( email )

2100 Neil Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210-1144
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )

c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
Rue Ducale 1 Hertogsstraat
1000 Brussels
Belgium

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
609
Abstract Views
3,930
Rank
78,496
PlumX Metrics