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Exposure to Low-wage Country Imports and the Growth of Japanese Manufacturing Plants

Author

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  • Anna Maria MAYDA
  • Masato NAKANE
  • Chad STEINBERG
  • Hiroyuki YAMADA

Abstract

Japan's trade structure has changed remarkably in the past two decades with an increase of imports of manufactured goods from low-wage countries, in particular China. This has contributed to the impression of a hollowing out effect in manufacturing. Against this background, we analyze the role of international trade in the reallocation of Japanese manufacturing within and across industries from 1989 to 2006. We estimate the impact of industry exposure to low-wage country imports on Japanese plants' survival and employment growth. The analysis is conducted with a panel dataset of over 4.5 million observations on Japanese manufacturing plants. Our results are broadly consistent with the factor proportions model of trade, as we find that plant survival and growth are negatively associated with industry exposure to low-wage country imports.

Suggested Citation

  • Anna Maria MAYDA & Masato NAKANE & Chad STEINBERG & Hiroyuki YAMADA, 2012. "Exposure to Low-wage Country Imports and the Growth of Japanese Manufacturing Plants," Discussion papers 12038, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    • Handle: RePEc:eti:dpaper:12038
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    Cited by:

    1. Tiago Pereira, 2016. "The effect of developing countries' competition on regional labour markets in Portugal," GEE Papers 0058, Gabinete de Estratégia e Estudos, Ministério da Economia, revised Mar 2016.
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    3. Daniel Goya, 2019. "Chinese competition and network effects on the extensive margin," Working Papers 2019-01, Escuela de Negocios y Economía, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso.

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