LOCATIONAL DETERMINANTS OF JAPANESE MANUFACTURING START-UPS IN THE UNITED-STATES

Foreign direct investment in the US has had a significant impact on state and local economies. As inward investment has grown since the late 1970s, researchers have investigated its locational determinants. Most studies analyze aggregate state data and have not used the conditional logit models increasingly popular in studies of domestic branch plant location. In addition, the literature on the site selection of foreign-owned branch plants tends to consider aggregate inward investment from all source countries. This paper analyzes Japanese-affiliated manufacturing investments in the US, based on micro data representing individual location choices for 1980-89. Despite considerable popular attention and active promotion among states and communities, there has been no thorough statistical analysis of Japanese branch plant location. -from Author