Croatian coast, 2006
My research is structured along three related dimensions. .
1. Culture, institutions and economic performance
This line of research concentrates on the relationship between culture (as in values and norms) and economic behavior. Together with my colleague Robbert Maseland I have just finished a 400 page monograph titled "Culture in economics" , basically making the point that due to the inclusion of culture in economics, fundamental (old and some new) methodological issues arise.
2. Globalisation and the geography of the multinational firm
In this line of research I link institutions and differences in institutions to the economic organization of firms. The main question concerns the relationship between (country specific) institutions and the way multinationals organize their economic activity. This concerns practical questions like:
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Given the cultural and institutional characteristics of the host and home country what would be the optimal way of organizing economic activity?
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How and why do firms invest in certain countries?
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How do institutional differences affect the choice between different modes of serving foreign markets?
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How does uncertainty caused by going abroad affect the economic behavior of managers of MNE headquarters versus those of subsidiaries? How does it affect subsidiary autonomy?
In this work I very much follow Dunning's key argument that "the theory of the multinational enterprise stands at the intersection of a macro economic theory of international trade and a micro economic theory of the firm" (Dunning and Lundan, 2008: 95)
3. Innovation, geography and institutions
Using firm level data from a wide variety of countries and European regions I try to improve our understanding of country and region specific institutions and a firm's innovativeness. I am especially interested in doing so from a multi level perspective. That allows me to clearly disentangle firm and aggregate level effects.