IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/mie/wpaper/422.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Fragmentation in Simple Trade Models

Author

Listed:
  • Deardorff, A.V.

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of "fragmentation," defined as the splitting of a production process into two or more steps that can be undertaken in different locations but that lead to the same final product. Introducing the possibility of fragmentation into simple theoretical models of international trade, the paper finds the effects of fragmentation on national welfare, on patterns of specialization and trade, and on factor prices. Models examined include the Ricardian Model and the Heckscher-Ohlin Model, both for small open economies and for a two-country world. Results are as follows: 1. If fragmentation does not change the prices of goods, then it must increase the value of output of any country where it occurs and that of the world. 2. If fragmentation does change prices, then fragmentation can lower the welfare of a country by turning its terms of trade against it. 3. Even in a country that gains from fragmentation, it is possible (but not necessary) that some factor owners within that country will lose. 4. To the extent that factor prices are not equalized internationally in the absence of fragmentation, fragmentation may be a force toward factor price equalization.

Suggested Citation

  • Deardorff, A.V., 1998. "Fragmentation in Simple Trade Models," Working Papers 422, Research Seminar in International Economics, University of Michigan.
    • Handle: RePEc:mie:wpaper:422
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul N. Courant & Alan V. Deardorff, 2011. "International Trade with Lumpy Countries," 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 14, pages 141-154, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. 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.
    3. Arndt, Sven W., 1997. "Globalization and the open economy," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 71-79.
    4. Alan V. Deardorff, 2011. "The possibility of factor price equalization, revisited," 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 15, pages 155-163, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    5. Helpman, Elhanan, 1984. "A Simple Theory of International Trade with Multinational Corporations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 92(3), pages 451-471, June.
    6. Debaere, Peter & Demiroglu, Ufuk, 2003. "On the similarity of country endowments," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 101-136, January.
    7. Sven W. Arndt, 1998. "Super‐Specialization And The Gains From Trade," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 16(4), pages 480-485, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Debaere & PEter, 2004. "Reversing the Perspective: Multinational Activity from Middle-Income Countries," Econometric Society 2004 North American Summer Meetings 140, Econometric Society.
    2. Andrew B. Bernard & J. Bradford Jensen & Peter K. Schott, 2001. "Factor Price Equality and the Economies of the United States," NBER Working Papers 8068, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Castellani, Davide & De Benedictis, Luca & Horgos, Daniel, 2013. "Can we really trust offshoring indices?," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 159-172.
    4. Horgos Daniel, 2012. "International Outsourcing and Wage Rigidity," Global Economy Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 12(2), pages 1-28, June.
    5. Robert C. Feenstra & Gordon H. Hanson & Deborah L. Swenson, 2000. "Offshore Assembly from the United States: Production Characteristics of the 9802 Program," NBER Chapters, in: The Impact of International Trade on Wages, pages 85-125, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Andrew B. Bernard & Raymond Robertson & Peter K. Schott, 2010. "Is Mexico a Lumpy Country?," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(5), pages 937-950, November.
    7. Agnese, Pablo, 2009. "Japan and her dealings with offshoring: An empirical analysis with aggregate data," MPRA Paper 16505, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Sabina Szymczak, 2023. "Systematic literature review: theory on GVCs' impact on wages, employment, and productivity," GUT FME Working Paper Series A 71, Faculty of Management and Economics, Gdansk University of Technology.
    9. Eppinger, Peter S., 2019. "Service offshoring and firm employment," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 209-228.
    10. Egger, Peter & Pfaffermayr, Michael & Wolfmayr-Schnitzer, Yvonne, 2001. "The international fragmentation of Austrian manufacturing: The effects of outsourcing on productivity and wages," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 257-272, November.
    11. Steven Brakman & Tijl Hendrich & Charles van Marrewijk & Jennifer Olsen, 2023. "On the revealed comparative advantages of Dutch cities," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 785-825, August.
    12. 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.
    13. Debaere, Peter, 2004. "Does lumpiness matter in an open economy?: Studying international economics with regional data," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 485-501, December.
    14. Charles Van Marrewijk & Steven Brakman, 2011. "Missing trade and lumpy countries," ERSA conference papers ersa10p610, European Regional Science Association.
    15. Agnese, Pablo, 2009. "Employment effects of offshoring. An application to Japanese industries, 1980-2005," MPRA Paper 16506, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. repec:lje:journl:v:20:y:2015:i:1:p:105-133 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Kiyota, Kozo, 2012. "A many-cone world?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 345-354.
    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. Brakman, Steven & van Marrewijk, Charles, 2013. "Lumpy countries, urbanization, and trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 252-261.
    20. Hongbo Cai & Xiangjun Zhang, 2011. "Off-shoring and labor productivity: Evidence from China," Frontiers of Economics in China, Springer;Higher Education Press, vol. 6(2), pages 271-289, June.
    21. Raphael Chiappini, 2012. "Decomposition Internationale Des Processus Productifs Et « Economie De Bazar » :Une Analyse Sur Les Principaux Exportateurs De La Zone Euro," Brussels Economic Review, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles, vol. 55(2), pages 205-234.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    PRODUCTION ; INDUSTRIAL LOCATION ; TRADE;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F10 - International Economics - - Trade - - - General
    • F11 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Neoclassical Models of Trade

    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:mie:wpaper:422. 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: FSPP Webmaster (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/riumius.html .

    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.