Asymmetric Demand Information and Foreign Direct Investment*
研究了在需求不确定和信息不对称的寡头市场中，企业选择外国直接投资还是出口的决策，发现即使贸易成本为零也可能出现FDI，这由战略学习效应驱动。
Abstract We examine the FDI versus exports decision of firms competing in an oligopolistic (quantity‐setting) market under demand uncertainty and asymmetric information. Compared to a firm that chooses to export, a firm that chooses to set up a plant in the host market has superior information about local market demand. In addition to the well‐known tension between the fixed set‐up costs of investment, the additional variable costs of exports and oligopoly sizes, the incentive to invest abroad is explained by the strategic learning effect. FDI may be observed even if trade costs are zero. The analysis is robust to price competition and to the possibility that a foreign firm can engage in both FDI and exports.