Christian Volpe Martincus

Export Effects from Linkages with Multinationals

In a recent paper, Christian Volpe Martincus and his collaborators examine whether and how linking up with multinational firms results in improved export performance for domestic firms, using a unique dataset that includes data on firm-to-firm purchases and sales both within and across countries. Their estimation results indicate that selling to a multinational firm is associated with a significant increase in the probability that a domestic firm starts to export, especially to a country where the respective multinational firm is headquartered or has an affiliate. This estimated effect is larger when the multinational firms themselves sell abroad and when the linkage intensity is higher.

While visiting CESifo, Christian Volpe Martincus will examine whether and how foreign affiliates of multinational firms affect the adoption of better sustainability practices by domestic firms and thereby their “green” and gender outcomes in host (and neighboring) countries and, as a result, their overall performance.

Christian Volpe Martincus is Principal Economist at the Integration and Trade Sector (INT) of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). He previously worked for the Ministry of the Economy of the Province of Buenos Aires and was advisor at the MERCOSUR Commission of the National Representatives Chamber in Argentina. He is the technical leader of INT impact evaluation work related to trade and investment operations and initiatives, the INT networks ELSNIT and TIGN, and the INT Trade Policy Research Seminar Series. He has also advised several governments in both Latin American and the Caribbean and OECD countries on export promotion, investment promotion, trade facilitation, and the evaluation of the respective programs.

Christian Volpe Martincus holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Bonn and a Master in Economics from the National University of La Plata (Argentina). He has published on international trade and economic geography in numerous international professional journals. He is also a CESifo Research Fellow and serves as an Associate Editor for the Review of International Economics.