IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp903.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Evaluating the Causal Effects of Foreign Acquisition on Domestic Skilled and Unskilled Wages

Author

Listed:
  • Girma, Sourafel

    (University of Nottingham)

  • Görg, Holger

    (Kiel Institute for the World Economy)

Abstract

This paper investigates the effects of the takeover of a domestic establishment by foreign owners on the domestic target’s development of wages for skilled and unskilled workers. We pay particular attention to identifying the causal effect, using a propensity score matching approach combined with a difference-in-differences estimator, and differences in post acquisition effects depending on the nationality of the acquirer. Our results suggest that there is substantial heterogeneity in the post-acquisition wage effect depending on the nationality of the foreign acquirer, the industry in which the firms operate and the skill group of workers. In particular, we find that skilled workers, on average, experience a post acquisition increase in the wage rate following an acquisition by a US firm, while no such effect is discernible following acquisitions by EU or firms of other nationalities. For unskilled workers, there are positive post acquisition wage effects from take-overs by EU firms in the electronics industry and US firms in the food industry.

Suggested Citation

  • Girma, Sourafel & Görg, Holger, 2003. "Evaluating the Causal Effects of Foreign Acquisition on Domestic Skilled and Unskilled Wages," IZA Discussion Papers 903, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp903
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp903.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carmichael, F, 1992. "Multinational Enterprise and Strikes: Theory and Evidence," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 39(1), pages 52-68, February.
    2. Nickell, Stephen J & Wadhwani, Sushil, 1990. "Insider Forces and Wage Determination," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 100(401), pages 496-509, June.
    3. Robert E. Lipsey & Fredrik Sjoholm, 2001. "Foreign Direct Investment and Wages in Indonesian Manufacturing," NBER Working Papers 8299, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Sjoholm, Fredrik & Lipsey, Robert E, 2006. "Foreign Firms and Indonesian Manufacturing Wages: An Analysis with Panel Data," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 55(1), pages 201-221, October.
    5. James R. Markusen, 1995. "The Boundaries of Multinational Enterprises and the Theory of International Trade," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 169-189, Spring.
    6. Brown, Charles & Medoff, James, 1989. "The Employer Size-Wage Effect," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(5), pages 1027-1059, October.
    7. Holger Görg & Eric Strobl & Frank Walsh, 2016. "Why Do Foreign-Owned Firms Pay More? The Role of On-the-Job Training," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES AND HOST COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT Volume 53: World Scientific Studies in International Economics, chapter 3, pages 33-51, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    8. Thierry Bracke & Reiner Martin, 2012. "Introduction," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Thierry Bracke & Reiner Martin (ed.), From Crisis to Recovery, pages 1-5, Palgrave Macmillan.
    9. Richard Blundell & Monica Costa Dias, 2000. "Evaluation methods for non-experimental data," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 21(4), pages 427-468, January.
    10. Stephen Machin & John Van Reenen, 1998. "Technology and Changes in Skill Structure: Evidence from Seven OECD Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 113(4), pages 1215-1244.
    11. Rachel Griffith & Helen Simpson, 2004. "Characteristics of Foreign-Owned Firms in British Manufacturing," NBER Chapters, in: Seeking a Premier Economy: The Economic Effects of British Economic Reforms, 1980–2000, pages 147-180, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. James J. Heckman & Hidehiko Ichimura & Petra E. Todd, 1997. "Matching As An Econometric Evaluation Estimator: Evidence from Evaluating a Job Training Programme," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 64(4), pages 605-654.
    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


    Cited by:

    1. Heyman, Fredrik & Sjöholm, Fredrik & Gustavsson Tingvall, Patrik, 2006. "Acquisitions, Multinationals, and Wage Dispersion," EIJS Working Paper Series 222, Stockholm School of Economics, The European Institute of Japanese Studies.
    2. Anders Gustafsson & Andreas Stephan & Alice Hallman & Nils Karlsson, 2016. "The “sugar rush” from innovation subsidies: a robust political economy perspective," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 43(4), pages 729-756, November.
    3. Bandick, Roger, 2004. "Do Workers Benefit from Foreign Ownership? Evidence from Swedish manufacturing," Working Paper Series 201, Trade Union Institute for Economic Research.
    4. Martins, Pedro S., 2004. "Do Foreign Firms Really Pay Higher Wages? Evidence from Different Estimators," IZA Discussion Papers 1388, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Almeida, Rita, 2007. "The labor market effects of foreign owned firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 75-96, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sourafel Girma & Holger Görg, 2016. "Evaluating the foreign ownership wage premium using a difference-in-differences matching approach," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES AND HOST COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT Volume 53: World Scientific Studies in International Economics, chapter 2, pages 17-32, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. Martins, Pedro S., 2004. "Do Foreign Firms Really Pay Higher Wages? Evidence from Different Estimators," IZA Discussion Papers 1388, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Csengődi, Sándor & Jungnickel, Rolf & Urban, Dieter M., 2005. "Foreign Takeovers and Wages: Theory and Evidence from Hungary," HWWA Discussion Papers 337, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWA).
    4. John P. Weche Geluebcke, 2012. "Foreign and Domestic Takeovers in Germany: First Comparative Evidence on the Post-acquisition Target Performance using new Data," Working Paper Series in Economics 249, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics.
    5. Arnold, Jens Matthias & Javorcik, Beata Smarzynska, 2005. "Gifted kids or pushy parents? Foreign acquisitions and plant performance in Indonesia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3597, The World Bank.
    6. Chiara Criscuolo & Ralf Martin, 2009. "Multinationals and U.S. Productivity Leadership: Evidence from Great Britain," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 91(2), pages 263-281, May.
    7. Jirjahn, Uwe, 2024. "Corporate Globalization and Worker Representation," IZA Discussion Papers 16727, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Nikolaj Malchow-Møller & James R. Markusen & Bertel Schjerning, 2013. "Foreign Firms, Domestic Wages," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 115(2), pages 292-325, April.
    9. Giorgio Barba Navaretti & Davide Castellani, 2003. "Investments Abroad and Performance at Home Evidence from Italian Multinationals," Development Working Papers 180, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    10. Taylor, Karl & Driffield, Nigel, 2005. "Wage inequality and the role of multinationals: evidence from UK panel data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 223-249, April.
    11. Heyman, Fredrik & Sjoholm, Fredrik & Tingvall, Patrik Gustavsson, 2007. "Is there really a foreign ownership wage premium? Evidence from matched employer-employee data," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 355-376, November.
    12. Sangeeta Pratap & Erwan Quintin, 2001. "Are labor markets segmented in Argentina? a semiparametric approach," Center for Latin America Working Papers 0701, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
    13. Schiffbauer, Marc & Siedschlag, Iulia & Ruane, Frances, 2009. "Do Foreign Mergers & Acquisitions Boost Firm Productivity?," Papers DYNREG47, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    14. Liu, Qing & Lu, Ruosi & Zhang, Chao, 2015. "The labor market effect of foreign acquisitions: Evidence from Chinese manufacturing firms," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 110-120.
    15. Spitz, Alexandra, 2004. "Using Methods of Treatment Evaluation to Estimate the Wage Effect of IT Usage," ZEW Discussion Papers 04-67, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    16. Sourafel Girma & Holger Görg, 2016. "Multinationals’ Productivity Advantage: Scale Or Technology?," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES AND HOST COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT Volume 53: World Scientific Studies in International Economics, chapter 1, pages 3-15, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    17. Santosh Kumar Sahu & Ankita Goel, 2023. "Wages and Firm Ownership: A Study of the Manufacturing Sector of India," Studies in Microeconomics, , vol. 11(2), pages 157-183, August.
    18. Christian Bellak, 2004. "How Domestic and Foreign Firms Differ and Why Does it Matter?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(4), pages 483-514, September.
    19. Laura Alfaro & Andrés Rodriguez-Clare, 2004. "Multinationals and Linkages: An Empirical Investigation," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Spring 20), pages 113-169, January.
    20. Sourafel Girma & Holger Görg, 2004. "Outsourcing, Foreign Ownership, and Productivity: Evidence from UK Establishment‐level Data," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(5), pages 817-832, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    matching estimator; multinationals; acquisitions; wages;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp903. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc 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 RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.