Title: Foreign direct investment and rural location in the United States

Authors: Mark Jelavich

Addresses: Northwest Missouri State University, USA

Abstract: This paper examines the extent to which multinational firms operating in the United States, through their locational investments, prefer more rural states over more urban states. Using state-level data for 2000 and using OLS, it was determined that such firms do prefer more rural states. However, labour costs and labour productivity appear to be more important determinants to location than ruralness.

Keywords: foreign direct investment; FDI; rural location; United States; USA; multinational corporations; multinational enterprises; labour costs; labour productivity; rural economic policy.

DOI: 10.1504/GBER.2004.006229

Global Business and Economics Review, 2004 Vol.6 No.2, pp.255 - 262

Published online: 07 Feb 2005 *

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