New evidence on the link between exchange rates and asset-seeking acquisition FDI

Blonigen (1997) proposes a link between exchange rates and foreign direct investment (FDI) motivated to acquire complementary assets (i.e., asset-seeking acquisition FDI). However, previous studies have only examined this hypothesis with acquisition FDI data from a country source that are mostly U.S. inbound. In this paper I examine the hypothesis using the acquisition FDI data from multiple country sources that are inbound for various countries. I find evidence in support of this hypothesis for U.S. inbound acquisition FDI from multiple country sources, but not inbound acquisition FDI for other various developed countries. (c) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.