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Heterogeneous Globalization: Offshoring and Reorganization

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  • Andrew B. Bernard
  • Teresa C. Fort
  • Valerie Smeets
  • Frederic Warzynski

Abstract

This paper exploits a unique offshoring survey to show that firms continue domestic production of the same goods they offshore to low-wage countries. This shift towards “produced-good imports” coincides with a reallocation of labor from physical production to innovation and technology occupations, and an increase in domestically-produced varieties' unit values. These responses suggest an additional, firm-level benefit of trade liberalization: the opportunity to offshore production of low-quality varieties, thereby freeing up domestic resources for the development, production, and marketing of higher-quality varieties. Firms’ reactions also motivate a new offshoring measure – produced- good imports – that is readily observed in most firm-level datasets.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew B. Bernard & Teresa C. Fort & Valerie Smeets & Frederic Warzynski, 2020. "Heterogeneous Globalization: Offshoring and Reorganization," NBER Working Papers 26854, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26854
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    Cited by:

    1. HASHIMOTO Yuki, 2020. "Global Competition, Worker Retention, and Immigrant Employment in Manufacturing SMEs," Discussion papers 20071, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    2. Grace Gu & Samreen Malik & Dario Pozzoli & Vera Rocha, 2022. "Chinese import competition, offshoring and servitization," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(2), pages 901-928, April.
    3. Sabien Dobbelaere & Catherine Fuss & Mark Vancauteren, 2023. "Does offshoring shape labor market imperfections? A comparative analysis of Belgian and Dutch firms," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 23-006/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    4. Cilekoglu, Akin A. & Moreno, Rosina & Ramos, Raul, 2024. "The impact of robot adoption on global sourcing," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(3).
    5. Magli, Martina, 2022. "The Spillover Effect of Services Offshoring on Local Labour Markets," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 351, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    6. Sergii Meleshchuk & Yannick Timmer, 2024. "The price of capital goods, investment and labour: Micro‐evidence from a trade liberalization," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 57(3), pages 799-835, August.
    7. Christopher F. Baum & Hans Lööf & Andreas Stephan & Ingrid Viklund-Ros, 2020. "The impact of offshoring on productivity and innovation: Evidence from Swedish manufacturing firms," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 1014, Boston College Department of Economics, revised 19 Apr 2021.
    8. Munch, Jakob R. & Olney, William W., 2024. "Offshoring and the Decline of Unions," IZA Discussion Papers 17116, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Kyle Handley & Fariha Kamal & Ryan Monarch, 2020. "Rising Import Tariffs, Falling Export Growth: When Modern Supply Chains Meet Old-Style Protectionism," Working Papers 676, Research Seminar in International Economics, University of Michigan.
    10. He, Chuan & Mau, Karsten & Xu, Mingzhi, 2021. "Trade Shocks and Firms Hiring Decisions: Evidence from Vacancy Postings of Chinese Firms in the Trade War," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    11. He, Chuan & Mau, Karsten & Xu, Mingzhi, 2021. "Trade Shocks and Firms Hiring Decisions:," Research Memorandum 001, Maastricht University, Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE).
    12. Andreas Hatzigeorgiou & Patrik Karpaty & Richard Kneller & Magnus Lodefalk, 2024. "Immigrant employment and the contract enforcement costs of offshoring," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 160(3), pages 953-981, August.
    13. Christopher F. Baum & Hans Lööf & Andreas Stephan & Ingrid Viklund‐Ros, 2022. "The impact of offshoring on technical change: Evidence from Swedish manufacturing firms," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 796-818, August.
    14. Martina Magli, 2022. "The spillover effect of services offshoring on local labour markets," CEP Discussion Papers dp1892, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    15. Konstantin Koerner & Mathilde Le Moigne, 2023. "FDI and onshore task composition: evidence from German firms with affiliates in the Czech Republic," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 57(1), pages 1-42, December.
    16. Willem THORBECKE & Nimesh SALIKE & CHEN Chen, 2020. "Product Complexity, Exports, and Exchange Rates: Evidence from the Japanese Chemical Industry," Discussion papers 20085, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    17. Magli, Martina, 2022. "The spillover effect of services offshoring on local labour markets," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118048, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Gu, Grace & Malik, Samreen & Pozzoli, Dario & Rocha, Vera, 2021. "Worker Reallocation, Firm Innovation, and Chinese Import Competition," Working Papers 9-2021, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Economics.
    19. Martina Magli, 2020. "The Direct and Indirect Effect of Services Offshoring on Local Labour Market Outcomes," CESifo Working Paper Series 8413, CESifo.
    20. Kaus, Wolfhard & Zimmermann, Markus, 2022. "Offshoring, domestic employment and production: Evidence from the German International Sourcing Survey," IWH Discussion Papers 14/2022, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    21. Jörg Mayer, 2021. "Development strategies for middle‐income countries in a digital world—Insights from modern trade economics," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(9), pages 2515-2546, September.
    22. Baum, Christopher F & Lööf, Hans & Stephan, Andreas & Viklund-Ros, Ingrid, 2020. "The impact of offshoring on innovation and productivity: Evidence from Swedish manufacturing firms," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 486, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    23. Jiwon Park, 2024. "Outsource to India: The impact of service outsourcing to India on the labor market in the United States," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 76(1), pages 203-222, January.
    24. Santiago Camara, 2022. "Does an increase in the cost of imported inputs hurt exports? Evidence from firms' network of foreign suppliers," Papers 2202.12811, arXiv.org.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • F61 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Microeconomic Impacts
    • L23 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Organization of Production
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance

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