Theoretical considerations suggest that the option of waiting under conditions of uncertainty affects the relative importance of firm-level productivity and distance-related transaction costs as driving forces of FDI. Yet the timing of FDI has received little attention in the empirical literature on FDI determinants. To help close this gap we analyze FDI decisions by German firms with and witho...

We present a likelihood-based statistical method for examining the pattern or rate of evolution of reproductive isolation. The method uses large empirical datasets to estimate, for a given clade, the average duration of two phases in the divergence of populations. The first phase is a lag phase and refers to the period during which lineages diverge but no detectable reproductive isolation evolv...

Sexual selection is proposed to be an important driver of diversification in animal systems, yet previous tests of this hypothesis have produced mixed results and the mechanisms involved remain unclear. Here, we use a novel phylogenetic approach to assess the influence of sexual selection on patterns of evolutionary change during 84 recent speciation events across 23 passerine bird families. We...

A long-standing question in evolutionary biology is what defines a species. The biological species concept considers a species as a population of individuals that interbreeds freely and produces viable offspring. Therefore, reproductive isolation is the essence of species. Hybrid necrosis is one form of post-zygotic reproductive isolation. In this chapter, we summarize what is known to date abo...

We explore entry into a foreign market with uncertain demand growth. A multinational can serve the foreign demand by two modes, or by a combination thereof: it can export its product, or it can create productive capacity via Foreign Direct Investment. The advantage of FDI is that it allows lower marginal cost than exports. The disadvantage is that FDI is irreversible and, hence, entails the ris...

If there is one certainty about speciation, it is that those who research the process are able to disagree about almost anything. Arguments have raged over how to define species, over the importance of spatial separation and, more recently, over whether peaks of differentiation in genome scans might point to barrier loci. The debate calling attention to the shortcomings of searching for ‘genomi...

Learning is widespread in nature, occurring in most animal taxa and in several different ecological contexts and, thus, might play a key role in evolutionary processes. Here, we review the accumulating empirical evidence for the involvement of learning in mate choice and the consequences for sexual selection and reproductive isolation. We distinguish two broad categories: learned mate preferenc...

.................................................................................................................... 7 Technology and the learning process ...................................................................... 7 Technology and competitiveness ......................................................................... 10 Latecomer industrialisation and the role of technology in dev...

A Comment on Globalization-Induced Changes and the Role of FDI Policies Avik Chakrabarti * Asst. Professor of Economics, UWM