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The Politics and Economics of Offshore Outsourcing

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  • Phillip Swagel
  • N. Gregory Mankiw

    (American Enterprise Institute)

Abstract

This paper reviews the political uproar over offshore outsourcing connected with the release of the Economic Report of the President (ERP) in February 2004, examines the differing ways in which economists and non-economists talk about offshore outsourcing, and assesses the empirical evidence on the importance of offshore outsourcing in accounting for the weak labor market from 2001 to 2004. Even with important gaps in the data, the empirical literature is able to conclude that offshore outsourcing is unlikely to have accounted for a meaningful part of the job losses in the recent downturn or contributed much to the slow labor market rebound. The empirical evidence to date, while still tentative, actually suggests that increased employment in the overseas affiliates of U. S. multinationals is associated with more employment in the U. S. parent rather than less.
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Suggested Citation

  • Phillip Swagel & N. Gregory Mankiw, 2005. "The Politics and Economics of Offshore Outsourcing," AEI Economics Working Papers 49881, American Enterprise Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:aei:rpaper:49881
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    International trade; Public Opinion Polls;

    JEL classification:

    • F - International Economics

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