IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/reviec/v11y2003i2p317-331.html

Fragmentation, Efficiency‐Seeking FDI, and Employment

Author

Listed:
  • Carsten Eckel

Abstract

The paper examines the impact of efficiency‐seeking FDI on factor prices, employment, and output. The analysis shows that when transportation costs fall, companies start relocating labor‐intensive production processes to low‐wage countries. But this does not necessarily hurt workers in the high‐wage country. The paper demonstrates an employment‐depressing “relocation effect” and an employment‐enhancing “efficiency effect.” Employment is more likely to rise if the internationality of production is high and if the supply of capital is elastic. Furthermore, the model is capable of explaining intraindustry cross‐hauling.

Suggested Citation

  • Carsten Eckel, 2003. "Fragmentation, Efficiency‐Seeking FDI, and Employment," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(2), pages 317-331, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:reviec:v:11:y:2003:i:2:p:317-331
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-9396.00385
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9396.00385
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1467-9396.00385?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Blomstrom, Magnus & Fors, Gunnar & Lipsey, Robert E, 1997. "Foreign Direct Investment and Employment: Home Country Experience in the United States and Sweden," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(445), pages 1787-1797, November.
    2. Rudiger Dornbusch & Stanley Fischer & Paul A. Samuelson, 1980. "Heckscher-Ohlin Trade Theory with a Continuum of Goods," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 95(2), pages 203-224.
    3. Robert C. Feenstra & Gene M. Grossman & Douglas A. Irwin (ed.), 1996. "The Political Economy of Trade Policy: Papers in Honor of Jagdish Bhagwati," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262061864, December.
    4. Robert C. Feenstra, 1998. "Integration of Trade and Disintegration of Production in the Global Economy," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(4), pages 31-50, Fall.
    5. Dornbusch, Rudiger & Fischer, Stanley & Samuelson, Paul A, 1977. "Comparative Advantage, Trade, and Payments in a Ricardian Model with a Continuum of Goods," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(5), pages 823-839, December.
    6. Lemoine, Françoise, 1998. "Integrating Central and Eastern Europe In the European Trade and Production Network," UCAIS Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy, Working Paper Series qt5r66s4ng, UCAIS Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy, UC Berkeley.
    7. Henrik Braconier & Karolina Ekholm, 2000. "Swedish Multinationals and Competition from High‐ and Low‐Wage Locations," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(3), pages 448-461, August.
    8. repec:bla:reviec:v:8:y:2000:i:3:p:448-61 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Amy Jocelyn Glass & Kamal Saggi, 2023. "FDI policies under shared factor markets," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Kamal Saggi (ed.), Technology Transfer, Foreign Direct Investment, and the Protection of Intellectual Property in the Global Economy, chapter 24, pages 543-566, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    10. Amy Jocelyn Glassa & Kamal Saggi, 2023. "Innovation and wage effects of international outsourcing," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Kamal Saggi (ed.), Technology Transfer, Foreign Direct Investment, and the Protection of Intellectual Property in the Global Economy, chapter 2, pages 33-52, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    11. Paul Krugman, 1995. "Growing World Trade: Causes and Consequences," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 26(1, 25th A), pages 327-377.
    12. Arndt, Sven W., 1997. "Globalization and the open economy," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 71-79.
    13. Alan V. Deardorff, 2011. "Fragmentation in simple trade models," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Robert M Stern (ed.), Comparative Advantage, Growth, And The Gains From Trade And Globalization A Festschrift in Honor of Alan V Deardorff, chapter 16, pages 165-181, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    14. Slaughter, Matthew J., 2000. "Production transfer within multinational enterprises and American wages," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 449-472, April.
    15. Venables, Anthony J., 1999. "Fragmentation and multinational production," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(4-6), pages 935-945, April.
    16. Eric W. Bond, 2001. "Commercial Policy in a "Fragmented" World," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 358-362, May.
    17. 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.
    18. repec:fth:iniesr:490 is not listed on IDEAS
    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. Kaan Celebi & Christina Anderl, 2026. "Capital Across Borders, Jobs at Home: The FDI-Unemployment Nexus in the OECD," Working Papers 2026.01, International Network for Economic Research - INFER.
    2. Thuy Thi Nguyen & Hanbe Cho, 2025. "The relationship between host country factors and FDI motivations: Evidence from Korean FDI in ASEAN countries," HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF SCIENCE - ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY, vol. 15(5), pages 50-68.
    3. Chiara Franco & Francesco Rentocchini & Giuseppe Vittucci Marzetti, 2008. "Why do firms invest abroad? An analysis of the motives underlying Foreign Direct Investments," Department of Economics Working Papers 0817, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia.
    4. Yousafzai, Arshad Hayat, 2014. "Exploring the Causality and Co-integration Relationship between FDI, GDP and Employment: A Case of Czech Republic," MPRA Paper 54827, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Davies, Ronald B., 2005. "Fragmentation of headquarter services and FDI," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 61-79, March.
    6. Fabian Barthel & Matthias Busse & Robert Osei, 2011. "The Characteristics and Determinants of FDI in Ghana," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 23(3), pages 389-408, July.
    7. Bahar Bayraktar-Sağlam & Selin Sayek Böke, 2017. "Labor Costs and Foreign Direct Investment: A Panel VAR Approach," Economies, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-23, September.

    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. Hummels, David & Ishii, Jun & Yi, Kei-Mu, 2001. "The nature and growth of vertical specialization in world trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 75-96, June.
    2. Wilhelm Kohler, 2003. "The Distributional Effects of International Fragmentation," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 4(1), pages 89-120, February.
    3. Wilhelm Kohler, 2002. "The Distributional Effects of International Fragmentation," Economics working papers 2002_01, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    4. 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.
    5. Egger, Hartmut & Falkinger, Josef, 2003. "The distributional effects of international outsourcing in a 2 x 2 production model," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 189-206, August.
    6. Robert Feenstra & Gordon Hanson, 2001. "Global Production Sharing and Rising Inequality: A Survey of Trade and Wages," NBER Working Papers 8372, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Wilhelm Kohler, 2003. "Factor Price Frontiers with International Fragmentation of Multistage Production," Economics working papers 2003-05, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    8. Götz Zeddies, 2011. "Determinants of international fragmentation of production in European Union," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 38(4), pages 511-537, November.
    9. Philipp Harms & Oliver Lorz & Dieter Urban, 2012. "Offshoring along the production chain," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 45(1), pages 93-106, February.
    10. Jean-Jacques Nowak & Sylvain Petit & Mondher Sahli, 2010. "Tourism And Globalization: The International Division Of Tourism Production," Post-Print hal-01831527, HAL.
    11. Mary Amiti & Shang-Jin Wei, 2005. "Fear of service outsourcing: is it justified? [‘Location of vertically linked industries: agglomeration versus comparative advantage’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 20(42), pages 308-347.
    12. Ingo Geishecker & Holger Görg, 2003. "Winners and Losers: Fragmentation, Trade and Wages Revisited," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 385, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    13. Wilhelm Kohler, 2002. "Aspects of International Fragmentation," Economics working papers 2002-08, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    14. Maritza Sotomayor, 2016. "Vertical Specialization of Production: Critical Review and Empirical Evidence for the Mexican Manufacturing Industries 1994-2014," International Journal of Business and Social Research, LAR Center Press, vol. 6(2), pages 11-28, February.
    15. repec:osf:thesis:bmxag_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Michael C. Burda & Barbara Dluhosch, 2002. "Fragmentation, Globalisation and Labour Markets," International Economic Association Series, in: David Greenaway & Richard Upward & Katharine Wakelin (ed.), Trade, Investment, Migration and Labour Market Adjustment, chapter 4, pages 47-65, Palgrave Macmillan.
    17. Paolo Epifani & Rosario Crinò, 2013. "Trade Imbalances and Wage Inequality," 2013 Meeting Papers 383, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    18. Horgos, Daniel, 2009. "Labor market effects of international outsourcing: How measurement matters," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 611-623, October.
    19. Vanessa Strauss-Kahn, 2004. "The Role of Globalization in the Within-Industry Shift Away from Unskilled Workers in France," NBER Chapters, in: Challenges to Globalization: Analyzing the Economics, pages 209-231, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Nathalie Chusseau & Michel Dumont & Joël Hellier, 2008. "Explaining Rising Inequality: Skill‐Biased Technical Change And North–South Trade," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 409-457, July.
    21. Richard Frensch & Jan Hanousek & Evžen Kocenda & Evžen Kočenda, 2012. "Incomplete Specialization and Offshoring across Europe," CESifo Working Paper Series 3809, CESifo.

    More about this item

    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:bla:reviec:v:11:y:2003:i:2:p:317-331. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0965-7576 .

    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.