ABSTRACT
This chapter examines a variety of types of intra-company, international transfers of funds. Its goal is to analyze key characteristics — especially the costs — of the money-moving vehicles that are available to firms with affiliates in more than one country, that is multinational enterprises (MNEs). The entire analysis focuses on the funds-transfer process; it is assumed that the firm already has decided on the optimal allocation of funds for each affiliate during the relevant time period. Also, the empirical evidence comes from firms with affiliates in Latin America, a group of countries plagued with foreign-debt problems and characterized by tight restrictions on funds transfers by multinational firms.
