ABSTRACT
Intra-firm trade (IFT) by multinational enterprises (MNEs) was first mentioned by Grubel and Lloyd (1975). Empirical studies appeared a few years later (Lall 1978; Helleiner and Lavergne 1979). 1 IFT is the international transfer of products or services between business units under common ownership. By definition, IFT, also called "related-party trade," refers to trade between parent companies and their foreign affiliates or between affiliates of the same parent company.
