Firm Heterogeneity, Contract Enforcement, and the Industry Dynamics of Offshoring
62 Pages Posted: 5 Aug 2009
Date Written: May 13, 2009
Abstract
We develop an endogenous growth model to study the long run consequences of offshoring with firm heterogeneity and incomplete contracts. In so doing, we model offshoring as the geographical fragmentation of a firm’s production chain between a home upstream division and a foreign downstream one. On the positive side, we show that, when contracts are incomplete, the possibility of offshoring has favorable implications for economic growth. Yet, offshoring induced by a higher bargaining power of the upstream division can hamper growth: while there is always a positive correlation between upstream bargaining weight and offshoring activities, there is a non-monotonic relationship between these and growth. Whether offshoring with incomplete contracts also increases consumption depends on firm heterogeneity. On the normative side, we show that, whereas with complete contract efficiency is restored through a subsidy to R&D only, with incomplete contracts a production subsidy to offshored upstream divisions is needed too.
Keywords: Offshoring, Heterogeneous Firms, Incomplete Contracts, Growth, Industry Dynamics
JEL Classification: D23, F23, L23, O31, O43
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?
Recommended Papers
-
The Nature and Growth of Vertical Specialization in World Trade
By David L. Hummels, Jun Ishii, ...
-
Foreign Direct Investment and Relative Wages: Evidence from Mexico's Maquiladoras
-
Integration vs. Outsourcing in Industry Equilibrium
By Gene M. Grossman and Elhanan Helpman
-
Firms, Contracts, and Trade Structure
By Pol Antras
-
The Evolving External Orientation of Manufacturing: A Profile of Four Countries
-
The Evolving External Orientation of Manufacturing Industries: Evidence from Four Countries
-
Can Vertical Specialization Explain the Growth of World Trade?
By Kei-mu Yi