We study the effect of property rights institutions in host countries, the institutions protecting investors from expropriation by host country agents, on the geographic structure and valuation of U.S. multinational corporations (MNCs). We provide firm-level evidence that better property rights...

Using detailed U.S. data, we find that host-country financial market development attracts more subsidiary operations of multinational corporations (MNCs). The roles of credit and stock markets are distinct. Credit markets are a robust driver of the documented effect, while stock markets play a...