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Gains from Offshoring? Evidence from U.S. Microdata

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Abstract

We construct a new linked data set with over one thousand offshoring events by matching Trade Adjustment Assistance program petition data to confidential data on U.S. firm operations. We exploit these data to assess how offshoring affects domestic firm-level aggregate employment, output, wages and productivity. Consistent with heterogenous firm models where offshoring involves a fixed cost, we find that the average offshoring firm is larger and more productive than the average non-offshorer. After initiating offshoring, firms experience large declines in employment (46.2 per cent), output (38.5 per cent) and capital (28.8 per cent) relative to their industry peers. We find no significant change in average wages or in total factor productivity measures for offshoring firms. These results are consistent across two separate difference-in-differences (DID) approaches, an instrumental variables approach, and a number of robustness checks. Thus, we find offshoring to be a strong substitute for domestic activity in this large sample of offshoring events.

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  • Ryan Monarch & Jooyoun Park & Jagadeesh Sivadasan, 2014. "Gains from Offshoring? Evidence from U.S. Microdata," International Finance Discussion Papers 1124, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
  • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgif:1124
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    Cited by:

    1. Boehm, Christoph E. & Flaaen, Aaron & Pandalai-Nayar, Nitya, 2020. "Multinationals, Offshoring, and the Decline of U.S. Manufacturing," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    2. Gregory Huffman, 2019. "The Relationship Between Offshoring, Growth and Welfare," Vanderbilt University Department of Economics Working Papers 19-00009, Vanderbilt University Department of Economics.
    3. Hartmut Egger & Udo Kreickemeier & Jens Wrona, 2017. "Offshoring Domestic Jobs," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: International Trade and Labor Markets Welfare, Inequality and Unemployment, chapter 2, pages 27-70, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    4. Illenin O. Kondo, 2013. "Trade Reforms, Foreign Competition, and Labor Market Adjustments in the U.S," International Finance Discussion Papers 1095, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    5. Jooyoun Park, 2018. "The Cleansing Effect of Offshoring in an Analysis of Employment," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 44(2), pages 242-272, April.
    6. Brian K. Kovak & Lindsay Oldenski & Nicholas Sly, 2017. "The Labor Market Effects of Offshoring by U.S. Multinational Firms: Evidence from Changes in Global Tax Policies," Research Working Paper RWP 17-12, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
    7. Priya Ranjan, 2014. "Globalization, Jobs, and Welfare: The Roles of Social Protection and Redistribution," Working Papers 141507, University of California-Irvine, Department of Economics.
    8. Monarch, Ryan & Park, Jooyoun & Sivadasan, Jagadeesh, 2017. "Domestic gains from offshoring? Evidence from TAA-linked U.S. microdata," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 150-173.
    9. Delis, Agelos & Driffield, Nigel & Temouri, Yama, 2019. "The global recession and the shift to re-shoring: Myth or reality?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 632-643.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Outsourcing; manufacturing; employment; trade; productivity; firm performance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • F61 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Microeconomic Impacts
    • F66 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Labor

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