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Winners and Losers: Fragmentation, Trade and Wages Revisited

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Listed author(s):
  • Ingo Geishecker
  • Holger Görg

Abstract

Our paper investigates the link between international outsourcing and wages utilising a large household panel and combining it with industry level information on industries' outsourcing activities from input-output tables. By doing so we can arguably overcome the potential aggregation bias as well as other shortcomings that affect industry level studies. We find that outsourcing has had a marked impact on wages. Distinguishing three skill categories we find evidence that outsourcing reduced the real wage for workers in the lowest skill categories by up to 1.8% while it increased real wages for high-skilled workers by up to 3.3%. This result is robust to a number of different specifications.

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File URL: http://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.41040.de/dp385.pdf
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Paper provided by DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research in its series Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin with number 385.

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Length: 27 p.
Date of creation: 2003
Handle: RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp385
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Keywords: Outsourcing; Fragmentation; Skills; Wages;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions
  • L24 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Contracting Out; Joint Ventures
  • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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  1. Eswar S. Prasad, 2004. "The Unbearable Stability of the German Wage Structure: Evidence and Interpretation," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 51(2), pages 354-385.
  2. Anderton, Bob & Brenton, Paul, 1999. "Outsourcing and Low-Skilled Workers in the UK," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(4), pages 267-285, October.
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  4. Alan B. Krueger & Jorn-Steffen Pischke, 1995. "A Comparative Analysis of East and West German Labor Markets: Before and After Unification," NBER Chapters,in: Differences and Changes in Wage Structures, pages 405-446 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  5. Fitzenberger Bernd, 1999. "International Trade and the Skill Structure of Wages and Employment in West Germany / Außenhandel und die Qualifikationsstruktur von Löhnen und Beschäftigung in Westdeutschland," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 219(1-2), pages 67-89, February.
  6. Katharine G. Abraham & Susan Houseman, 1995. "Earnings Inequality in Germany," NBER Chapters,in: Differences and Changes in Wage Structures, pages 371-404 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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  8. 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.
  9. Head, Keith & Ries, John, 2002. "Offshore production and skill upgrading by Japanese manufacturing firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 81-105, October.
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  15. Arndt, Sven W., 1997. "Globalization and the open economy," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 71-79.
  16. Falk, Martin & Koebel, Bertrand M, 2002. " Outsourcing, Imports and Labour Demand," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 104(4), pages 567-586, December.
  17. Richard B. Freeman, 1995. "Are Your Wages Set in Beijing?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 15-32, Summer.
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  19. Hijzen, Alexander, 2003. "Fragmentation, Productivity and Relative Wages in the UK: A General Equilibrium Approach," Royal Economic Society Annual Conference 2003 108, Royal Economic Society.
  20. Paul, Catherine J Morrison & Siegel, Donald S, 2001. " The Impacts of Technology, Trade and Outsourcing on Employment and Labor Composition," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 103(2), pages 241-264, June.
  21. Adrian Wood, 2002. "Globalization and wage inequalities: A synthesis of three theories," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 138(1), pages 54-82, March.
  22. Moulton, Brent R, 1990. "An Illustration of a Pitfall in Estimating the Effects of Aggregate Variables on Micro Unit," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 72(2), pages 334-338, May.
  23. Venables, Anthony J., 1999. "Fragmentation and multinational production," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(4-6), pages 935-945, April.
  24. Paul Beaudry & David Green, 2000. "The Changing Structure of Wages in the US and Germany: What Explains the Differences?," NBER Working Papers 7697, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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Cited by:

  1. Chiara BROCCOLINI & Alessia LO TURCO & Andrea PRESBITERO & Stefano STAFFOLANI, 2007. "International Outsourcing vs. ICT in explaining the wage gap in Italian Manufacturing," Working Papers 299, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
  2. Michele Raitano & Eleonora Romano & Pietro Zoppoli, 2016. "The sectorial intensity of production of renewable energy sources in Italy:measurement and effects on earnings," Working Papers 1, Department of the Treasury, Ministry of the Economy and of Finance.
  3. Eva Katalin Polgar & Julia Woerz, 2011. "Trade With Central and Eastern Europe: Is It Really a Threat to Wages in the West?," DANUBE: Law and Economics Review, European Association Comenius - EACO, issue 1, pages 1-31, March.
  4. Michael Landesmann & Robert Stehrer, 2009. "South-North Integration, Outsourcing and Skills," wiiw Research Reports 353, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
  5. Ogloblin, C, 2004. "Global Outsourcing of Human Capital and the Incidence of Unemployment in the United States," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 4(3).

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