IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/lmu/muenec/715.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Is Human Capital Losing from Outsourcing? Evidence for Austria and Poland

Author

Listed:
  • Lorentowicz, Andzelika
  • Marin, Dalia
  • Raubold, Alexander

Abstract

Feenstra and Hanson (1997) have argued in the context of the North American Free Trade Agreement that US outsourcing to Mexico leads to an increase in the skill premium in both the US and Mexico. In this paper we show on the example of Austria and Poland that with the new international division of labor emerging in Europe Austria, the high income country, is specializing in the low skill intensive part of the value chain and Poland, the low income country, is specializing in the high skill part. As a result, skilled workers in Austria are losing from outsourcing, while gaining in Poland. In Austria, relative wages for human capital declined by 2 percent during 1995-2002 and increased by 41 percent during 1994-2002 in Poland. In both countries outsourcing contributes roughly 35 percent to these changes in the relative wages for skilled workers. Furthermore, we show that Austria’s R&D policy has contributed to an increase in the skill premium there.

Suggested Citation

  • Lorentowicz, Andzelika & Marin, Dalia & Raubold, Alexander, 2005. "Is Human Capital Losing from Outsourcing? Evidence for Austria and Poland," Discussion Papers in Economics 715, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:lmu:muenec:715
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/715/1/humanloser8.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bob Anderton & Paul Brenton, 2014. "Outsourcing And Low-Skilled Workers In The Uk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: INTERNATIONAL TRADE, DISTRIBUTION AND DEVELOPMENT Empirical Studies of Trade Policies, chapter 9, pages 185-203, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. Marin, Dalia, 2004. "‘A Nation of Poets and Thinkers’ - Less So with Eastern Enlargement? Austria and Germany," Discussion Paper Series of SFB/TR 15 Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems 77, Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Bonn, University of Mannheim, University of Munich.
    3. Marin, Dalia & Lorentowicz, Andzelika & Raubold, Alexander, 2002. "Ownership, Capital or Outsourcing: What Drives German Investment to Eastern Europe?," CEPR Discussion Papers 3515, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Robert C. Feenstra & Gordon H. Hanson, 1995. "Foreign Investment, Outsourcing and Relative Wages," NBER Working Papers 5121, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Giovanni S.F. Bruno & Rosario Crinò & Anna M. Falzoni, 2004. "Foreign Direct Investment, Wage Inequality, and Skilled Labor Demand in EU Accession Countries," Development Working Papers 188, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    6. Eli Bekman & John Bound & Stephen Machin, 1998. "Implications of Skill-Biased Technological Change: International Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(4), pages 1245-1279.
    7. Ingo Geishecker, 2002. "Outsourcing and the Demand for Low-skilled Labour in German Manufacturing: New Evidence," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 313, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    8. Feenstra, Robert C & Hanson, Gordon H, 1996. "Globalization, Outsourcing, and Wage Inequality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(2), pages 240-245, May.
    9. Marin, Dalia, 2004. "A Nation of Poets and Thinkers - Less so with Eastern Enlargement? Austria and Germany," CEPR Discussion Papers 4358, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Dalia Marin, 2006. "A New International Division of Labor in Europe: Outsourcing and Offshoring to Eastern Europe," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 4(2-3), pages 612-622, 04-05.
    11. Egger, Peter, 2000. "A note on the proper econometric specification of the gravity equation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 25-31, January.
    12. Marin, Dalia, 1995. "Learning and Dynamic Comparative Advantage: Lessons from Austria's Postwar Pattern of Growth for Eastern Europe," Discussion Papers in Economics 610, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    13. Diehl, Markus, 1999. "The Impact of International Outsourcing on the Skill Structure of Employment: Empirical Evidence from German Manufacturing Industries," Kiel Working Papers 946, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    14. Marin, Dalia, 2006. "A New International Division of Labour in Europe," CEPR Discussion Papers 5447, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. 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.
    16. Eli Berman & John Bound & Zvi Griliches, 1994. "Changes in the Demand for Skilled Labor within U. S. Manufacturing: Evidence from the Annual Survey of Manufactures," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(2), pages 367-397.
    17. Pavcnik, Nina, 2003. "What explains skill upgrading in less developed countries?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 311-328, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Marin, Dalia & Lorentowicz, Andzelika & Raubold, Alexander, 2005. "Is Human Capital Losing from Outsourcing?," CEPR Discussion Papers 5344, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Rosario Crinò, 2009. "Offshoring, Multinationals And Labour Market: A Review Of The Empirical Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(2), pages 197-249, April.
    3. Katharina Längle, 2020. "Offshoring: What Consequences for Workers? Evidence from Global Value Chains," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 20005, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    4. Jorge Saba Arbache, 2001. "Trade Liberalisation and Labor Markets in Developing Countries: Theory and Evidence," Studies in Economics 0112, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    5. Katharina Längle, 2020. "Offshoring: What Consequences for Workers? Evidence from Global Value Chains," Working Papers hal-02548691, HAL.
    6. Jauhari, Azmafazilah Binti & khalifah, noor, 2018. "Trade Linkages and Skill Demand: Empirical Evidence for the Malaysian Electrical and Electronics Industries," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 52(1), pages 89-103.
    7. Katharina Längle, 2020. "Offshoring: What Consequences for Workers? Evidence from Global Value Chains," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-02899944, HAL.
    8. Katharina Längle, 2020. "Offshoring: What Consequences for Workers? Evidence from Global Value Chains," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-02548691, HAL.
    9. A. Arrighetti & A. Ninni & E. Breda & R. Cappariello & M. Clemens & D. Schumacher, 2012. "Competitiveness in manufacturing. Germany vs. Italy – a comparison," Economics Department Working Papers 2012-EP01, Department of Economics, Parma University (Italy).
    10. Katharina Längle, 2020. "Offshoring: What Consequences for Workers? Evidence from Global Value Chains," Post-Print halshs-02899944, HAL.
    11. Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg & Nina Pavcnik, 2007. "Distributional Effects of Globalization in Developing Countries," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 45(1), pages 39-82, March.
    12. Li, Hongbin & Li, Lei & Ma, Hong, 2022. "China's skill-biased imports," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    13. Hübler, Michael, 2007. "A simple model of outsourcing with Cournot competition," Kiel Working Papers 1320, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    14. 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.
    15. Zhu, Susan Chun, 2005. "Can product cycles explain skill upgrading?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 131-155, May.
    16. Fajnzylber, Pablo & Fernandes,Ana Margarida, 2004. "International economic activities and the demand for skilled labor: evidence from Brazil and China," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3426, The World Bank.
    17. Meschi, Elena & Taymaz, Erol & Vivarelli, Marco, 2011. "Trade, technology and skills: Evidence from Turkish microdata," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(S1), pages 60-70.
    18. an de Meulen, Philipp, 2011. "Labor Heterogeneity and the Risk of Expropriation in Less Developed Countries," Ruhr Economic Papers 298, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    19. Sujata Basu, "undated". "R & D Sector Outsourcing, Human Capital Formation and Growth in the Context of Developed versus Developing Economies," Centre for International Trade and Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Discussion Papers 15-05, Centre for International Trade and Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
    20. Piero Esposito & Robert Stehrer, 2012. "The Effects of High-tech Capital, FDI and Outsourcing on Demand for Skills in West and East," Chapters, in: Matilde Mas & Robert Stehrer (ed.), Industrial Productivity in Europe, chapter 13, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    foreign direct investment ; wage inequality ; transition economy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements
    • 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
    • P45 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Other Economic Systems - - - International Linkages

    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:lmu:muenec:715. 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: Tamilla Benkelberg (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.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.