BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 METHOD:PUBLISH PRODID:-//Telerik Inc.//Sitefinity CMS 15.1//EN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Eastern Standard Time BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20251102T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=1SU;BYHOUR=2;BYMINUTE=0;BYMONTH=11 TZNAME:Eastern Standard Time TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20250301T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=2SU;BYHOUR=2;BYMINUTE=0;BYMONTH=3 TZNAME:Eastern Daylight Time TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DESCRIPTION:Moynihan Institute of Global AffairsTrade\, \;Development a nd Political Economypresent Amit Khandelwal: “Language Barriers in Multina tionals and Knowledge Transfers” A distinct feature of MNCs is a three-tie r organizational structure:\nforeign managers (FMs) supervise domestic man agers (DMs) who supervise\nproduction workers. Language barriers between F Ms and DMs could impede\ntransfers of management knowledge. The authors de velop a model in which DMs\nlearn general management by communicating with FMs\, but communication effort is\nnon-contractible. These conditions gen erate sub-optimal communication within\nthe MNC. If communication is compl ementary with language skills\, the planner\ncould raise welfare by subsid izing foreign language acquisition. The authors\nexperimentally assess the validity of the general skills and the\ncomplementarity assumptions in My anmar\, a setting where FMs and DMs communicate\nin English. The first exp eriment examines the general skills assumption by\nasking prospective empl oyers at domestic firms to rate hypothetical job\ncandidates. They value c andidates with both higher English proficiency and MNC\nexperience\, a pre mium driven\, in part\, by frequent interactions with FMs. The\nsecond exp eriment examines the complementarity assumption by providing English\ntrai ning to a random sample of DMs working at MNCs. At endline\, treated DMs\n have higher English proficiency\, communicate more frequently with their F Ms\,\nare more involved in firm management\, and perform better in simulat ed\nmanagement tasks. Organizational barriers within MNCs can thus hinder knowledge\ntransfers and lead to an under-investment in English relative t o the social\noptimum. \n\nProfessor Khandelwal’s research focuses on the link between international\ntrade and economic development. He has studied how trade reforms in China and\nIndia affected participation in global ma rkets and firms’ productivity. He has\nimplemented randomized trials that explore the causal impacts of trade\, foreign\ndirect investment\, and tec hnology adoption in Egypt\, Myanmar\, and Pakistan. His\nmost recent work has examined the U.S. trade war and its implications for the\nU.S. economy . \; His expertise in policy issues includes international trade\nand industrial policy. At Columbia\, he teaches courses in microeconomics\,\ne merging markets\, and has taught international seminars on the Indian\, Ch inese\,\nand Myanmar economies. \; Khandelwal \;received a doctora te in economics\nfrom Yale University and bachelor's degrees in economics and mathematics from\nNorthwestern University.\n\nClick here to register f or this Zoom eventAny questions or concerns\, please \;contact Juanita Horan at jmhoran@syr.edu DTEND:20211101T213000Z DTSTAMP:20260512T105421Z DTSTART:20211101T200000Z LOCATION: SEQUENCE:0 SUMMARY:Amit Khandelwal: “Language Barriers in Multinationals and Knowledge Transfers” UID:RFCALITEM639141656618753815 X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs

Trade\, \;Development and Political Economy


present


Amit Khandelwal: “Language Barriers in Multinationals and Knowledge Transfers”


A distinct feature of MNCs is a th ree-tier organizational structure:\nforeign managers (FMs) supervise domes tic managers (DMs) who supervise\nproduction workers. Language barriers be tween FMs and DMs could impede\ntransfers of management knowledge. The aut hors develop a model in which DMs\nlearn general management by communicati ng with FMs\, but communication effort is\nnon-contractible. These conditi ons generate sub-optimal communication within\nthe MNC. If communication i s complementary with language skills\, the planner\ncould raise welfare by subsidizing foreign language acquisition. The authors\nexperimentally ass ess the validity of the general skills and the\ncomplementarity assumption s in Myanmar\, a setting where FMs and DMs communicate\nin English. The fi rst experiment examines the general skills assumption by\nasking prospecti ve employers at domestic firms to rate hypothetical job\ncandidates. They value candidates with both higher English proficiency and MNC\nexperience\ , a premium driven\, in part\, by frequent interactions with FMs. The\nsec ond experiment examines the complementarity assumption by providing Englis h\ntraining to a random sample of DMs working at MNCs. At endline\, treate d DMs\nhave higher English proficiency\, communicate more frequently with their FMs\,\nare more involved in firm management\, and perform better in simulated\nmanagement tasks. Organizational barriers within MNCs can thus hinder knowledge\ntransfers and lead to an under-investment in English rel ative to the social\noptimum.


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Professor Khandelw al’s research focuses on the link between international\ntrade and economi c development. He has studied how trade reforms in China and\nIndia affect ed participation in global markets and firms’ productivity. He has\nimplem ented randomized trials that explore the causal impacts of trade\, foreign \ndirect investment\, and technology adoption in Egypt\, Myanmar\, and Pak istan. His\nmost recent work has examined the U.S. trade war and its impli cations for the\nU.S. economy. \; His expertise in policy issues inclu des international trade\nand industrial policy. At Columbia\, he teaches c ourses in microeconomics\,\nemerging markets\, and has taught internationa l seminars on the Indian\, Chinese\,\nand Myanmar economies. \; Khande lwal \;received a doctorate in economics\nfrom Yale University and bac helor's degrees in economics and mathematics from\nNorthwestern University .

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Click here to register for this Zoom event< /p>


Any questions or concerns\, please \;contact Juanita Horan at jmhoran@syr.edu


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