IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/reveco/v19y2010i2p340-345.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Skilled-unskilled wage inequality and offshore outsourcing with asymmetric adjustment costs

Author

Listed:
  • Chakrabarti, Avik
  • Mitra, Rajarshi

Abstract

We present a model that can capture the effects of offshore outsourcing on the wedge between the wages of skilled and unskilled workers when costs of adjustment are asymmetric. We identify conditions under which offshore outsourcing activities widen the skilled-unskilled wage inequality in the presence of asymmetric adjustment costs. We show how a higher cost of adjustment in the import-competing sector can magnify the offshore outsourcing induced gap between the wages of the skilled and unskilled workers. We also demonstrate the sensitivity of the effects of offshore outsourcing, on the skilled-unskilled wage gap, to asymmetries in the costs of adjustment.

Suggested Citation

  • Chakrabarti, Avik & Mitra, Rajarshi, 2010. "Skilled-unskilled wage inequality and offshore outsourcing with asymmetric adjustment costs," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 340-345, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:reveco:v:19:y:2010:i:2:p:340-345
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1059-0560(09)00060-4
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Neary, J. Peter, 2009. "Trade costs and foreign direct investment," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 207-218, March.
    2. Chakrabarti, Avik, 2004. "Asymmetric adjustment costs in simple general equilibrium models," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 63-73, February.
    3. 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.
    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. Lichtenberg, Frank R, 1988. "Estimation of the Internal Adjustment Costs Model Using Longitudinal Establishment Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 70(3), pages 421-430, August.
    6. Sanjib Sarker & John Gilbert & Reza Oladi, 2008. "Adjustment Costs and Immiserizing Growth in LDCs," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(4), pages 779-791, November.
    7. Wolfson, P, 1993. "Compositional Change, Aggregation, and Dynamic Factor Demand: Estimates on a Panel of Manufacturing Firms," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 8(2), pages 129-148, April-Jun.
    8. Julia K. Thomas, 2002. "Is Lumpy Investment Relevant for the Business Cycle?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(3), pages 508-534, June.
    9. Bernstein, Jeffrey I., 1988. "Dynamic factor demands and adjustment costs: An analysis of bell Canada's Technology," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 5-24.
    10. Jones, Ronald & Kierzkowski, Henryk & Lurong, Chen, 2005. "What does evidence tell us about fragmentation and outsourcing?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 305-316.
    11. Kolstad, Charles D & Lee, Jong-Kun, 1993. "The Specification of Dynamics in Cost Function and Factor Demand Estimation," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 75(4), pages 721-726, November.
    12. David L. Hummels & Dana Rapoport & Kei-Mu Yi, 1998. "Vertical specialization and the changing nature of world trade," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 4(Jun), pages 79-99.
    13. Gilbert, John & Oladi, Reza, 2009. "Capital specificity, imperfect labor mobility and growth in developing economies," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 113-122, January.
    14. 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.
    15. Kierzkowski, Henryk, 2005. "Outsourcing and fragmentation: Blessing or threat?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 233-235.
    16. Steven A. Barnett & Plutarchos Sakellaris, 1999. "A New Look At Firm Market Value, Investment, And Adjustment Costs," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(2), pages 250-260, May.
    17. Ronald W. Jones & Sugata Marjit, 2018. "The Role of International Fragmentation in the Development Process," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: International Trade Theory and Competitive Models Features, Values, and Criticisms, chapter 15, pages 255-261, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    18. Sugata Marjit & Hamid Beladi & Avik Chakrabarti, 2004. "Trade and Wage Inequality in Developing Countries," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 42(2), pages 295-303, April.
    19. Ronald W. Jones, 2018. "The Structure of Simple General Equilibrium Models," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: International Trade Theory and Competitive Models Features, Values, and Criticisms, chapter 4, pages 61-84, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    20. Russell W. Cooper & John C. Haltiwanger, 2006. "On the Nature of Capital Adjustment Costs," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 73(3), pages 611-633.
    21. Ronald W. Jones, 2000. "Globalization and the Theory of Input Trade," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026210086x, April.
    22. Chaudhuri, Sarbajit & Yabuuchi, Shigemi, 2007. "Foreign Capital and Skilled-unskilled Wage Inequality in a Developing Economy with Non-traded Goods," MPRA Paper 2645, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    23. Avik Chakrabarti, 2006. "Factor price equalization beyond a “cubic” world," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 27(2), pages 483-491, January.
    24. repec:bla:scandj:v:85:y:1983:i:2:p:223-38 is not listed on IDEAS
    25. Chakrabarti, Avik, 2009. "Internal adjustment costs in capital-intensive and labor-intensive industries," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 102(2), pages 76-77, February.
    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. Jeff P. Boone & Inder K. Khurana & K. K. Raman, 2011. "Litigation Risk and Abnormal Accruals," Working Papers 0020, College of Business, University of Texas at San Antonio.
    2. Beladi, Hamid & Oladi, Reza, 2011. "An elementary proposition on technical progress and non-traded goods," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 68-71, January.
    3. Anwar, Sajid, 2013. "Outsourcing and the skilled–unskilled wage gap," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 118(2), pages 347-350.
    4. Fariha Kamal & Mary E. Lovely & Puman Ouyang, 2017. "Does deeper integration enhance spatial advantages? Market access and wage growth in China," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Mary E Lovely (ed.), International Economic Integration and Domestic Performance, chapter 14, pages 255-270, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    5. Pi, Jiancai & Zhou, Yu, 2013. "Institutional quality and skilled–unskilled wage inequality," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 356-363.
    6. Maroula Khraiche, 2009. "Trade, Firm Structure, and Migration of Talent," Working papers 2009-35, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    7. Pi, Jiancai & Zhou, Yu, 2012. "Public infrastructure provision and skilled–unskilled wage inequality in developing countries," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 881-887.
    8. Anwar, Sajid & Sun, Sizhong & Valadkhani, Abbas, 2013. "International outsourcing of skill intensive tasks and wage inequality," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 590-597.
    9. Bakhtiari, Sasan, 2012. "Offshoring, wages and the growing skill gap: Advocating offshoring without sectoral reallocation," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 46-58.
    10. Khraiche, Maroula, 2014. "Trade, capital adjustment and the migration of talent," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 24-40.

    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. Chakrabarti, Avik, 2004. "Asymmetric adjustment costs in simple general equilibrium models," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 63-73, February.
    2. 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.
    3. Hamid Beladi & Avik Chakrabarti & Sugata Marjit, 2010. "Skilled‐Unskilled Wage Inequality And Urban Unemployment," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 48(4), pages 997-1007, October.
    4. 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.
    5. Kemal Türkcan, 2011. "Vertical Intra-Industry Trade and Product Fragmentation in the Auto-Parts Industry," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 149-186, June.
    6. Michael C. Burda & Barbara Dluhosch, 2002. "Cost Competition, Fragmentation, and Globalization," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(3), pages 424-441, August.
    7. Rosario Crinò, 2010. "Service Offshoring and White-Collar Employment," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 77(2), pages 595-632.
    8. Elhanan Helpman, 2006. "Trade, FDI, and the Organization of Firms," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 44(3), pages 589-630, September.
    9. 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.
    10. Enrique Martínez-Galán & Maria Paula Fontoura, 2016. "GGlobal Value Chains assessment in the 2000s: an approach with income transfers," Working Papers Department of Economics 2016/15, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Universidade de Lisboa.
    11. S. Montresor & G. Vittucci Marzetti, 2006. "Outsourcing and structural change: shifting firm and sectoral boundaries," Working Papers 566, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    12. Pol Antràs & Robert W. Staiger, 2012. "Offshoring and the Role of Trade Agreements," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(7), pages 3140-3183, December.
    13. Michael Landesmann & Robert Stehrer, 2009. "South-North Integration, Outsourcing and Skills," wiiw Research Reports 353, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    14. Hamid Beladi & Chi-chur Chao & Daniel Hollas, 2011. "Fair wages, Urban Unemployment and Welfare in a Developing Economy," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 31(1), pages 273-285.
    15. 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.
    16. Kunwang Li & Ligang Song & Xingjun Zhao, 2008. "Component Trade and China's Global Economic Integration," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2008-101, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    17. Beladi, Hamid & Chao, Chi-Chur, 2010. "Downsizing, wage inequality and welfare in a developing economy," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(4), pages 224-228, December.
    18. Nuno Leitão & Horácio Faustino & Yushi Yoshida, 2009. "Determinants of Vertical Intra-Industry Trade in the Automobile Manufacturing Sector: globalization and fragmentation," Working Papers Department of Economics 2009/06, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Universidade de Lisboa.
    19. Wilhelm Kohler, 2003. "The Distributional Effects of International Fragmentation," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 4(1), pages 89-120, February.
    20. Witada Anukoonwattaka, 2007. "Outsourcing and International Production of a Multinational: A Theoretical Model and Empirical Evidence from Toyota, Thailand," DEGIT Conference Papers c012_045, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade.

    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:eee:reveco:v:19:y:2010:i:2:p:340-345. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620165 .

    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.