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Offshoring in a Knowledge Economy

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Author Info
Pol Antràs
Luis Garicano
Esteban Rossi-Hansberg

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Abstract

How does the formation of cross-country teams affect the organization of work and the structure of wages? To study this question, we propose a theory of the assignment of heterogeneous agents into hierarchical teams, where less skilled agents specialize in production and more skilled agents specialize in problem solving. We first analyze the properties of the competitive equilibrium of the model in a closed economy, and show that the model has a unique and efficient solution. We then study the equilibrium of a two-country model (North and South), where countries differ in their distributions of ability, and in which agents in different countries can join together in teams. We refer to this type of integration as globalization. Globalization leads to better matches for all southern workers but only for the best northern workers. As a result, we show that globalization increases wage inequality among nonmanagers in the South, but not necessarily in the North. We also study how globalization affects the size distribution of firms and the patterns of consumption and trade in the global economy. Copyright (c) President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology..

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File URL: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1162/qjec.2006.121.1.31
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Article provided by MIT Press in its journal The Quarterly Journal of Economics.

Volume (Year): 121 (2006)
Issue (Month): 1 (02)
Pages: 31-77
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Handle: RePEc:tpr:qjecon:v:121:y:2006:i:1:p:31-77

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Feenstra, R.C. & Hanson, G.H., 1995. "Foreign Investment, Outsourcing and Relative Wages," Department of Economics 95-14, California Davis - Department of Economics.
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  2. Antràs, Pol & Helpman, Elhanan, 2004. "Global Sourcing," CEPR Discussion Papers 4170, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Gene M. Grossman & Giovanni Maggi, 2000. "Diversity and Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(5), pages 1255-1275, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Daron Acemoglu, 2003. "Patterns of Skill Premia," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 70(2), pages 199-230, 04. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Andrew B. Bernard & Raymond Robertson & Peter K. Schott, 2004. "Is Mexico A Lumpy Country?," NBER Working Papers 10898, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Aitken, Brian & Harrison, Ann & Lipsey, Robert E., 1996. "Wages and foreign ownership A comparative study of Mexico, Venezuela, and the United States," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(3-4), pages 345-371, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Pol Antras, 2005. "Incomplete Contracts and the Product Cycle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(4), pages 1054-1073, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Waldman, Michael, 1984. "Worker Allocation, Hierarchies and the Wage Distribution," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 51(1), pages 95-109, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Verhoogen, Eric A., 2007. "Trade, Quality Upgrading and Wage Inequality in the Mexican Manufacturing Sector," CEPR Discussion Papers 6385, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Robert Feenstra & Gordon Hanson, 2001. "Global Production Sharing and Rising Inequality: A Survey of Trade and Wages," NBER Working Papers 8372, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Luis Garicano & Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, 2004. "Inequality and the Organization of Knowledge," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(2), pages 197-202, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Pol Antràs, 2003. "Firms, Contracts, And Trade Structure," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 118(4), pages 1375-1418, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Holmstrom, Bengt & Milgrom, Paul, 1994. "The Firm as an Incentive System," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(4), pages 972-91, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Michael Kremer & Eric Maskin, 1996. "Wage Inequality and Segregation by Skill," NBER Working Papers 5718, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Luis Garicano, 2000. "Hierarchies and the Organization of Knowledge in Production," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(5), pages 874-904, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Lipsey, Robert E. & Sjoholm, Fredrik, 2004. "Foreign direct investment, education and wages in Indonesian manufacturing," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 415-422, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Volker Nocke & Stephen Yeaple, 2004. "An Assignment Theory of Foreign Direct Investment," NBER Working Papers 11003, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. Feenstra, Robert C & Hanson, Gordon H, 1996. "Globalization, Outsourcing, and Wage Inequality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(2), pages 240-45, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  19. Grossman, Gene & Helpman, Elhanan, 2003. "Managerial Incentives and the International Organization of Production," CEPR Discussion Papers 3737, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  20. Sherwin Rosen, 1982. "Authority, Control, and the Distribution of Earnings," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 13(2), pages 311-323, Autumn. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Robert E. Lucas Jr., 1978. "On the Size Distribution of Business Firms," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 9(2), pages 508-523, Autumn. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. Sattinger, Michael, 1993. "Assignment Models of the Distribution of Earnings," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 31(2), pages 831-80, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  23. Juhn, Chinhui & Murphy, Kevin M & Pierce, Brooks, 1993. "Wage Inequality and the Rise in Returns to Skill," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(3), pages 410-42, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  24. Elhanan Helpman & Marc J. Melitz & Stephen R. Yeaple, 2004. "Export versus FDI with Heterogeneous Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(1), pages 300-316, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  25. Feenstra, Robert C. & Hanson, Gordon H., 1997. "Foreign direct investment and relative wages: Evidence from Mexico's maquiladoras," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3-4), pages 371-393, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  26. Luis Garicano & Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, 2006. "Organization and Inequality in a Knowledge Economy," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 121(4), pages 1383-1435, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Jan Eeckhout & Boyan Jovanovic, 2007. "Occupational Choice and Development," NBER Working Papers 13686, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Cuñat, Vicente & Guadalupe, Maria, 2006. "Globalization and the Provision of Incentives Inside the Firm," CEPR Discussion Papers 5950, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Paolo Figini & Holger Görg, 2006. "Does Foreign Direct Investment Affect Wage Inequality? An Empirical Investigation," IZA Discussion Papers 2336, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Marin, Dalia & Verdier, Thierry, 2007. "Power in the Multinational Corporation in Industry Equilibrium," CEPR Discussion Papers 6341, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. David H. Autor & Lawrence F. Katz & Melissa S. Kearney, 2006. "The Polarization of the U.S. Labor Market," NBER Working Papers 11986, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. Michaels, Guy, 2007. "The Effect of Trade on the Demand for Skill - Evidence from the Interstate Highway System," CEPR Discussion Papers 6056, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Kjell Erik Lommerud & Frode Meland & Odd Rune Straume, 2005. "Can Deunionization Lead to International Outsourcing?," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo GmbH. [Downloadable!]
  8. Roberto Antonietti & Giulio Cainelli, 2007. "Production Outsourcing, Organizational Governance and Firm’s Technological Performance: Evidence from Italy," Working Papers 2007.58, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei. [Downloadable!]
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  9. Gene M. Grossman & Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, 2006. "Trading Tasks: A Simple Theory of Offshoring," NBER Working Papers 12721, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Verhoogen, Eric A., 2007. "Trade, Quality Upgrading and Wage Inequality in the Mexican Manufacturing Sector," CEPR Discussion Papers 6385, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  11. Pol Antràs & Luis Garicano & Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, 2006. "Organizing Offshoring: Middle Managers and Communication Costs," NBER Working Papers 12196, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Zakharenko, Roman, 2007. "Migration, Learning, and Development," MPRA Paper 6262, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  13. Guy Michaels, 2006. "The Effect of Trade on the Demand for Skill - Evidence from the Interstate Highway System," CEP Discussion Papers dp0772, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
  14. Vicente Cuñat & Maria Guadalupe, 2006. "Globalization and the Provision of Incentives Inside the Firm: The Effect of Foreign Competition," IZA Discussion Papers 2408, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  15. Eric Verhoogen, 2007. "Trade, quality upgrading and wage inequality in the Mexican manufacturing sector," Discussion Papers 0607-08, Columbia University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  16. Ariel Burstein & Alexander Monge-Naranjo, 2007. "Foreign Know-How, Firm Control, and the Income of Developing Countries," NBER Working Papers 13073, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Luis Garicano & Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, 2005. "Organization and Inequality in a Knowledge Economy," NBER Working Papers 11458, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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