Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

Offshoring, Firm Performance and Establishment-Level Employment: Identifying Productivity and Downsizing Effects

Contents:

Author Info

  • Moser, Christoph
  • Urban, Dieter M
  • Weder di Mauro, Beatrice

Abstract

This paper examines the channels through which offshoring affects employment in a representative sample of German establishments, using a difference-in-differences matching approach. Offshoring establishments are identified by an increase in the share of foreign to total inputs. We find that an average offshoring establishment has higher employment, higher productivity, and higher domestic and foreign market share than if it did not engage in offshoring. Furthermore, its production depth remains unchanged indicating that offshoring predominantly operates through a substitution of domestic for foreign suppliers, rather than through a reduction of home production. This result enables us to isolate a positive productivity effect from offshoring on employment. However, employment in an establishment decreases - relative to its counterfactual - when it simultaneously engages in offshoring and restructuring of the home plant. Therefore, we are also able to isolate a negative downsizing effect of offshoring on employment.

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
File URL: http://www.cepr.org/pubs/dps/DP7455.asp
Download Restriction: CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org

As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.

Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 7455.

as in new window
Length:
Date of creation: Sep 2009
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:7455

Contact details of provider:
Postal: Centre for Economic Policy Research, 77 Bastwick Street, London EC1V 3PZ
Phone: 44 - 20 - 7183 8801
Fax: 44 - 20 - 7183 8820

Order Information:
Email:

Related research

Keywords: difference-in-differences matching estimator; export performance; offshoring; stable unit treatment value assumption;

Find related papers by JEL classification:

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References

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.:
as in new window
  1. Rajeev Dehejia, 1999. "Program Evaluation as a Decision Problem," NBER Working Papers 6954, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  2. Holger Görg & Aoife Hanley & Eric Strobl, 2008. "Productivity effects of international outsourcing: evidence from plant-level data," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 41(2), pages 670-688, May.
  3. Alexander Hijzen, & Tomohiko Inui, & Yasuyuki Todo, . "Does Offshoring Pay? Firm-Level Evidence From Japan," Discussion Papers 07/14, University of Nottingham, GEP.
  4. Barba Navaretti, Giorgio & Castellani, Davide, 2004. "Investments Abroad and Performance at Home: Evidence from Italian Multinationals," CEPR Discussion Papers 4284, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  5. Ann Harrison & Margaret McMillan, 2009. "Offshoring Jobs? Multinationals and US Manufacturing Employment," Discussion Papers Series, Department of Economics, Tufts University 0741, Department of Economics, Tufts University.
  6. Black, Dan A. & Smith, J.A.Jeffrey A., 2004. "How robust is the evidence on the effects of college quality? Evidence from matching," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 121(1-2), pages 99-124.
  7. Smith, Jeffrey & Todd, Petra, 2005. "Rejoinder," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 125(1-2), pages 365-375.
  8. Buch, Claudia M. & Lipponer, Alexander, 2007. "Volatile multinationals? Evidence from the labor demand of German firms," Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 2007,22, Deutsche Bundesbank, Research Centre.
  9. Yeaple, Stephen & Helpman, Elhanan & Melitz, Marc, 2004. "Export versus FDI with Heterogeneous Firms," Scholarly Articles 3229098, Harvard University Department of Economics.
  10. Jakob Munch & Jan Skaksen, 2009. "Specialization, outsourcing and wages," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer, vol. 145(1), pages 57-73, April.
  11. Marin, Dalia, 2005. "A New International Division of Labor in Europe: Offshoring and Outsourcing to Eastern Europe," Discussion Papers in Economics 714, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
  12. Helpman, Elhanan, 1984. "A Simple Theory of International Trade with Multinational Corporations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 92(3), pages 451-71, June.
  13. Karsten Bjerring Olsen, 2006. "Productivity Impacts of Offshoring and Outsourcing: A Review," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2006/1, OECD Publishing.
  14. Helg, Rodolfo & Tajoli, Lucia, 2005. "Patterns of international fragmentation of production and the relative demand for labor," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 233-254, August.
  15. Imbens, Guido & Wooldridge, Jeffrey M., 2009. "Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation," Scholarly Articles 3043416, Harvard University Department of Economics.
  16. Manuela Angelucci & Giacomo De Giorgi, 2009. "Indirect Effects of an Aid Program: How Do Cash Transfers Affect Ineligibles' Consumption?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(1), pages 486-508, March.
  17. Hartmut Egger & Peter Egger, 2000. "Outsourcing and skill-specific employment in a small economy: Austria and the fall of the Iron Curtain," Economics working papers 2000-24, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
  18. Sándor Csengödi & Rolf Jungnickel & Dieter M. Urban, 2008. "Foreign Takeovers and Wages in Hungary," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer, vol. 144(1), pages 55-82, April.
  19. Michael Pfaffermayr & Peter Egger & Andrea Weber, 2007. "Sectoral adjustment of employment to shifts in outsourcing and trade: evidence from a dynamic fixed effects multinomial logit model," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(3), pages 559-580.
Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

Citations

Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
as in new window

Cited by:
  1. Wagner, Joachim, 2009. "Offshoring and Firm Performance: Self-Selection, Effects on Performance, or Both?," IZA Discussion Papers 4605, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  2. Hartmut Egger & Udo Kreickemeier & Jens Wrona, 2013. "Offshoring Domestic Jobs," CESifo Working Paper Series 4083, CESifo Group Munich.
  3. Craig P. Aubuchon & Subhayu Bandyopadhyay & Sumon Kumar Bhaumik, 2012. "The extent and impact of outsourcing: evidence from Germany," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue July, pages 287-304.
  4. Alessia LO TURCO & Daniela MAGGIONI, 2012. "Does trade foster employment growth in emerging markets? Evidence from Turkey," Working Papers 383, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
  5. Martin Borowiecki & Bernhard Dachs & Doris Hanzl-Weiss & Steffen Kinkel & Johannes Pöschl & Magdolna Sass & Thomas Christian Schmall & Robert Stehrer & Andrea Szalavetz, 2012. "Global Value Chains and the EU Industry," wiiw Research Reports 383, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.

Lists

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Statistics

Access and download statistics

Corrections

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:7455

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ().

If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.

If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.