IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wpa/wuwpit/0405002.html

Patterns of International Fragmentation of Production and Implications for the Labor Markets

Author

Listed:
  • Rodolfo Helg

    (Cattaneo University - LIUC)

  • Lucia Tajoli

    (Politecnico di Milano)

Abstract

Growing shares of international trade flows consist of intermediate and unfinished goods shipped from one country to another to combine manufacturing or services activities at home with those performed abroad. This configuration of the productive structure has been named “internationally fragmented”. The purpose of our work is to analyze the labor market effects of international fragmentation of production in Europe, looking at how it affects relative labor demand. Models of trade due to fragmentation of production suggest that when international fragmentation takes place we can expect to observe a change in the relative factor intensities of the affected industries. We use international trade data specifically related to international fragmentation of production to test if the shift in intensity of skilled and unskilled labor employed in Italy and Germany during the 1990s it related to the fragmentation activity.

Suggested Citation

  • Rodolfo Helg & Lucia Tajoli, 2004. "Patterns of International Fragmentation of Production and Implications for the Labor Markets," International Trade 0405002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpit:0405002
    Note: Type of Document - pdf; pages: 33
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://econwpa.ub.uni-muenchen.de/econ-wp/it/papers/0405/0405002.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Pol Antras & Elhanan Helpman, 2004. "Global Sourcing," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(3), pages 552-580, June.
    3. Carolyn L. Evans & James Harrigan, 2003. "Distance, time, and specialization," International Finance Discussion Papers 766, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    4. Bob Anderton & Paul Brenton, 2014. "Outsourcing And Low-Skilled Workers In The Uk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: INTERNATIONAL TRADE, DISTRIBUTION AND DEVELOPMENT Empirical Studies of Trade Policies, chapter 9, pages 185-203, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    5. Haskel, Jonathan E. & Slaughter, Matthew J., 2002. "Does the sector bias of skill-biased technical change explain changing skill premia?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(10), pages 1757-1783, December.
    6. Hijzen, Alexander & Görg, Holger & Hine, Robert C., 2003. "International Fragmentation and Relative Wages in the UK," IZA Discussion Papers 717, IZA Network @ LISER.
    7. 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.
    8. Robert Anderton & Paul Brenton & Eva Oscarsson, 2014. "What's Trade Got to Do with It? Relative Demand for Skills within Swedish Manufacturing," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: INTERNATIONAL TRADE, DISTRIBUTION AND DEVELOPMENT Empirical Studies of Trade Policies, chapter 10, pages 205-227, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    9. 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..
    10. Deardorff, A.V., 1998. "Fragmentation Across Cones," Working Papers 427, Research Seminar in International Economics, University of Michigan.
    11. Eli Berman & John Bound & Zvi Griliches, 1994. "Changes in the Demand for Skilled Labor within U. S. Manufacturing: Evidence from the Annual Survey of Manufactures," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(2), pages 367-397.
    12. Salvatore Baldone & Fabio Sdogati & Lucia Tajoli, 2001. "Patterns and determinants of international fragmentation of production: Evidence from outward processing trade between the EU and Central Eastern European countries," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 137(1), pages 80-104, March.
    13. Hanson, Gordon H, 1996. "Localization Economies, Vertical Organization, and Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(5), pages 1266-1278, December.
    14. 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.
    15. Deardorff, Alan V., 2005. "Ricardian comparative advantage with intermediate inputs," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 11-34, March.
    16. 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.
    17. Salvatore Baldone & Fabio Sdogati & Lucia Tajoli, 2002. "Moving to Central-Eastern Europe: Fragmentation of Production and Competitiveness of the European Textile and Apparel Industry," Rivista di Politica Economica, SIPI Spa, vol. 92(1), pages 209-282, January-F.
    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. Shandre Thangavelu & Aekapol Chongvilaivan, 2011. "The impact of material and service outsourcing on employment in Thailand's manufacturing industries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(27), pages 3931-3944.
    2. Burstein, Ariel & Kurz, Christopher & Tesar, Linda, 2008. "Trade, production sharing, and the international transmission of business cycles," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 775-795, May.
    3. Nobuaki Yamashita, 2010. "International Fragmentation of Production," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13615.
    4. Elia, Stefano & Mariotti, Ilaria & Piscitello, Lucia, 2009. "The impact of outward FDI on the home country's labour demand and skill composition," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 357-372, August.
    5. C. Michael Wernerheim, 2011. "Does services offshoring boost productivity? Some Canadian evidence on causation," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(4), pages 551-569, August.
    6. Swenson, Deborah L., 2004. "Entry costs and outsourcing decisions: evidence from the U.S. overseas assembly provision," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 267-286, December.
    7. Carmen Díaz Mora & Rosario Gandoy Juste, "undated". "Estrategias de fragmentación de la producción: Una realidad en la industria espanola?," Studies on the Spanish Economy 180, FEDEA.
    8. Banri ITO & Ryuhei WAKASUGI & Eiichi TOMIURA, 2008. "Offshoring and Productivity: Evidence from Japanese Firm-level Data," Discussion papers 08028, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    9. Falzoni, Anna M. & Venturini, Alessandra & Villosio, Claudia, 2004. "Wage Differentials and International Trade in Italy Using Individual Micro Data 1991-1996," IZA Discussion Papers 1204, IZA Network @ LISER.
    10. Youngho Kang & Unjung Whang, 2018. "To Whom Does Outward FDI Give Jobs?," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 613-639, July.

    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. Helg, Rodolfo & Tajoli, Lucia, 2005. "Patterns of international fragmentation of production and the relative demand for labor," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 233-254, August.
    2. Michael Landesmann & Robert Stehrer, 2009. "South-North Integration, Outsourcing and Skills," wiiw Research Reports 353, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    3. Hijzen, Alexander & Görg, Holger & Hine, Robert C., 2003. "International Fragmentation and Relative Wages in the UK," IZA Discussion Papers 717, IZA Network @ LISER.
    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. Dumont, Michel, 2004. "The Impact of International Trade with Newly Industrialised Countries on the Wages and Employment of Low-Skilled and High-Skilled Workers in the European Union," Thesis Commons bmxag, Center for Open Science.
    6. 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.
    7. Ulltveit-Moe, Karen Helene & Ekholm, Karolina, 2007. "A New Look at Offshoring and Inequality: Specialization Versus Competition," CEPR Discussion Papers 6402, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    8. repec:osf:thesis:bmxag_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Christopher Johann Kurz, 2006. "Outstanding Outsourcers: A Firm- and Plant-Level Analysis of Production Sharing," Working Papers 06-02, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    10. Mary Amiti & Shang‐Jin Wei, 2009. "Service Offshoring and Productivity: Evidence from the US," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 203-220, February.
    11. João Amador & Sónia Cabral, 2014. "Global Value Chains: Surveying Drivers, Measures and Impacts," Working Papers w201403, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    12. R. Antonietti & D. Antonioli, 2007. "Conditional Leptokurtosis in Energy Prices: Multivariate Evidence from Futures Markets," Working Papers 594, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    13. Martin Borowiecki & Bernhard Dachs & Doris Hanzl-Weiss & Steffen Kinkel & Johannes Pöschl & Magdolna Sass & Thomas Christian Schmall & Robert Stehrer & Andrea Szalavetz, 2012. "Global Value Chains and the EU Industry," wiiw Research Reports 383, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    14. Christopher J. Kurz, 2006. "Outstanding outsourcers: a firm- and plant-level analysis of production sharing," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2006-04, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    15. Markusen, James, 2005. "Modeling the Offshoring of White-Collar Services: From Comparative Advantage to the New Theories of Trade and FDI," CEPR Discussion Papers 5408, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    16. Wilhelm Kohler, 2007. "The Bazaar Effect, Unbundling of Comparative Advantage, and Migration," CESifo Working Paper Series 1932, CESifo.
    17. Nathalie Chusseau & Joël Hellier, 2012. "Globalisation and Inequality: Where do we stand?," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 21(3-4), pages 7-34, November.
    18. Amador, João & Cabral, Sónia, 2009. "Vertical specialization across the world: A relative measure," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 267-280, December.
    19. Gagliardi, Luisa & Iammarino, Simona & Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés, 2015. "Offshoring and the geography of jobs in Great Britain," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 65018, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    20. João Amador & Sónia Cabral, 2008. "International Fragmentation of Production in the Portuguese Economy: What do Different Measures Tell Us?," Working Papers w200811, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    21. Katharina Längle, 2020. "Offshoring: What Consequences for Workers? Evidence from Global Value Chains," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 20005, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions

    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:wpa:wuwpit:0405002. 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: EconWPA The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask EconWPA to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://econwpa.ub.uni-muenchen.de .

    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.