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Trade, Offshoring, and the Invisible Handshake

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Author Info
Bilgehan Karabay
John McLaren

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Abstract

We study the effect of globalization on the volatility of wages and worker welfare in a model in which risk is allocated through long-run employment relationships (the 'invisible handshake'). Globalization can take two forms: International integration of commodity markets (i.e., free trade) and international integration of factor markets (i.e., offshoring). In a two-country, two-good, two-factor model we show that free trade and offshoring have opposite effects on rich-country workers. Free trade hurts rich-country workers, while reducing the volatility of their wages; by contrast, offshoring benefits them, while raising the volatility of their wages. We thus formalize, but also sharply circumscribe, a common critique of globalization.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 15048.

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Date of creation: Jun 2009
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15048

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
F10 - International Economics - - Trade - - - General
F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions

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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.:
  1. Kocherlakota, Narayana R, 1996. "Implications of Efficient Risk Sharing without Commitment," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 63(4), pages 595-609, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Devashish Mitra & Priya Ranjan, 2007. "Offshoring and Unemployment," Working Papers 060719, University of California-Irvine, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  3. Matusz, Steven J, 1985. "The Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson Model with Implicit Contracts," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 100(4), pages 1313-29, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Gene M. Grossman & Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, 2006. "Trading Tasks: A Simple Theory of Offshoring," NBER Working Papers 12721, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Marianne Bertrand, 2004. "From the Invisible Handshake to the Invisible Hand? How Import Competition Changes the Employment Relationship," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(4), pages 723-766, October. [Downloadable!]
  6. Mary Amiti & Shang-Jin Wei, 2006. "Service Offshoring and Productivity: Evidence from the United States," NBER Working Papers 11926, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Matusz, Steven J, 1986. "Implicit Contracts, Unemployment and International Trade," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 96(382), pages 307-22, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. James Ted McDonald & Christopher Worswick, 1999. "Wages, Implicit Contracts, and the Business Cycle: Evidence from Canadian Micro Data," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(4), pages 884-913, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Valletta, Robert G, 1999. "Declining Job Security," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(4), pages S170-97, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. MacLeod, W Bentley & Malcomson, James M, 1989. "Implicit Contracts, Incentive Compatibility, and Involuntary Unemployment," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 57(2), pages 447-80, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Lazear, Edward P, 1979. "Why Is There Mandatory Retirement?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(6), pages 1261-84, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Andrei Shleifer & Lawrence H. Summers, 1988. "Breach of Trust in Hostile Takeovers," NBER Chapters, in: Corporate Takeovers: Causes and Consequences, pages 33-68 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
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  13. Daniel A. Traca, 2005. "Globalization, Wage Volatility, and the Welfare of Workers," Review of International Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 13(2), pages 237-249, 05. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  1. Devashish Mitra & Priya Ranjan, 2007. "Offshoring and Unemployment," IZA Discussion Papers 2805, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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