Essays on the Interplay between Multinational Enterprises and Spatial Economies

Sammanfattning: This doctoral thesis concerns the interplay between multinational enterprises (MNE) and spatial economies, with an orientation towards the location and spillover effects of inward foreign direct investments (FDI). The thesis consists of four essays that are self-contained studies. The first essay relates to the shift away from FDI in manufacturing to services and examines whether service FDI locates differently from manufacturing FDI. The second essay concerns the relationship between FDI and public incentives and whether investment promotion schemes are useful to attract FDI. The third essay examines the link between human capital and FDI and how different types of skilled workers influence FDI location. Taken together, these three essays examine conditions and factors that determine the location decision of foreign MNEs in the contemporary era of globalisation. The forth essay examines whether labour mobility is a potential source for spillovers from FDI in a spatial context. Although the latter essay does not provide any final answer to whether spillovers actually arise through this channel, it shows that the potentials for an effect to arise are larger in some regions than others because there are very few or no such knowledge spillover agents in many parts of the country. The thesis concludes by discussing the link between FDI and the policy work on regional development, and some avenues for future studies.