IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/fec/journl/v6y2011i2p271-289.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Off-Shoring and Labor Productivity: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Hongbo Cai

    (School of Economics and Business Administration, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China)

  • Xiangjun Zhang

    (School of Mathematical Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China)

Abstract

This paper uses input-output tables to measure material off-shoring, service off-shoring and narrow sense material off-shoring on 33 industries by use of DJ index (Daveri and Jona-Lasinio, 2008), not FH index with ¡°the same proportion assumption¡± (Feenstra and Hanson, 1996). It estimates the effects of the off-shoring on labor productivity by panel data model. Our results show that, the off-shoring is generally positively associated with labor productivity, and service off-shoring has more significant effect than the material off-shoring. There are some key aspects to be discussed in detail, including: (1) the heavy industry¡¯s material off-shoring increases obviously and service off-shoring declines in recent years, and the former¡¯s contribution to productivity growth is less than the latter; (2) the demand of chemical industry for service off-shoring significantly increases and its positive marginal effect on productivity growth is stronger than the material because of industry transformation and upgrading; and (3) the current intensive material off-shoring of textile, equipment manufacturing industries greatly contributes to productivity growth, while the positive effect from service off-shoring on labor productivity has initially boomed. In conclusion, we provide some suggestions for further development of China¡¯s off-shoring.

Suggested Citation

  • Hongbo Cai & Xiangjun Zhang, 2011. "Off-Shoring and Labor Productivity: Evidence from China," Frontiers of Economics in China-Selected Publications from Chinese Universities, Higher Education Press, vol. 6(2), pages 271-289, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:fec:journl:v:6:y:2011:i:2:p:271-289
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://journal.hep.com.cn/fec/EN/10.1007/s11459-011-0132-6
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. F. Daveri & C. Jona-Lasinio, 2007. "Off-shoring and productivity growth in the Italian manufacturing industries," Economics Department Working Papers 2007-EP08, Department of Economics, Parma University (Italy).
    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. Holger Görg, 2000. "Fragmentation and trade: US inward processing trade in the EU," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 136(3), pages 403-422, September.
    4. Hartmut Egger & Peter Egger, 2002. "How international outsourcing drives up Eastern European wages," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 138(1), pages 83-96, March.
    5. Ingo Geishecker & Holger Görg, 2008. "Winners and losers: a micro‐level analysis of international outsourcing and wages," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(1), pages 243-270, February.
    6. Gorg, Holger & Hanley, Aoife, 2005. "International outsourcing and productivity: evidence from the Irish electronics industry," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 255-269, August.
    7. Hartmut Egger & Peter Egger, 2006. "International Outsourcing and the Productivity of Low-Skilled Labor in the EU," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 44(1), pages 98-108, January.
    8. 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.
    9. Egger, Hartmut & Egger, Peter, 2001. "Cross-border sourcing and outward processing in EU manufacturing," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 243-256, November.
    10. Arndt, Sven W., 1997. "Globalization and the open economy," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 71-79.
    11. Alexander Hijzen & Holger Görg & Robert C. Hine, 2005. "International Outsourcing and the Skill Structure of Labour Demand in the United Kingdom," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(506), pages 860-878, October.
    12. João Amador & Sónia Cabral, 2008. "Vertical Specialization in Portuguese International Trade," Economic Bulletin and Financial Stability Report Articles and Banco de Portugal Economic Studies, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    13. Chen, Hogan & Kondratowicz, Matthew & Yi, Kei-Mu, 2005. "Vertical specialization and three facts about U.S. international trade," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 35-59, March.
    14. Francesco Daveri & Cecilia Jona-Lasinio, 2008. "Off-shoring and Productivity Growth in the Italian Manufacturing Industries -super-‡," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 54(3), pages 414-450, September.
    15. 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.
    16. 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.
    17. Mary Amiti & Shang-Jin Wei, 2006. "Service Offshoring and Productivity: Evidence from the United States," NBER Working Papers 11926, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Kohler, Wilhelm, 2001. "A specific-factors view on outsourcing," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 31-53, March.
    19. Hung-Yi Chen & Yang-Ming Chang, 2006. "Trade Verticality and Structural Change in Industries:The Cases of Taiwan and South Korea," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 321-340, July.
    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. Hongbo CAI & Hao CHEN & Xinhe LIU, 2012. "Offshoring And Employment Structure: Evidence From China," Journal of Applied Economic Sciences, Spiru Haret University, Faculty of Financial Management and Accounting Craiova, vol. 7(1(19)/ Sp), pages 35-47.

    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. João Amador & Sónia Cabral, 2014. "Global Value Chains: Surveying Drivers, Measures and Impacts," Working Papers w201403, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    2. Amador, João & Cabral, Sónia, 2008. "International fragmentation of production in the Portuguese economy: What do different measures tell us?," MPRA Paper 9783, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    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. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. Amador, João & Cabral, Sónia, 2014. "Global value chains: surveying drivers and measures," Working Paper Series 1739, European Central Bank.
    10. Ronald Bachmann & Sebastian Braun, 2008. "The Impact of International Outsourcing on Labour Market Dynamics in Germany," Ruhr Economic Papers 0053, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    11. Nenci, Silvia & Fusacchia, Ilaria & Giunta, Anna & Montalbano, Pierluigi & Pietrobelli, Carlo, 2022. "Mapping global value chain participation and positioning in agriculture and food: stylised facts, empirical evidence and critical issues," Bio-based and Applied Economics Journal, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA), vol. 11(2), July.
    12. Marcela Sabaté, 2009. "Vertical Specialization and Nonstationarities in International Trade Series," The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series iiisdp309, IIIS.
    13. repec:zbw:rwirep:0053 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Ronald Bachmann & Sebastian Braun, 2011. "The Impact Of International Outsourcing On Labour Market Dynamics In Germany," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 58(1), pages 1-28, February.
    15. Agnese, Pablo, 2009. "Japan and her dealings with offshoring: An empirical analysis with aggregate data," MPRA Paper 16505, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Hijzen, Alexander & Görg, Holger & Hine, Robert C., 2003. "International Fragmentation and Relative Wages in the UK," IZA Discussion Papers 717, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Tillmann Schwörer, 2013. "Offshoring, domestic outsourcing and productivity: evidence for a number of European countries," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 149(1), pages 131-149, March.
    18. Agnese, Pablo, 2009. "Employment effects of offshoring. An application to Japanese industries, 1980-2005," MPRA Paper 16506, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Egger, Hartmut & Falkinger, Josef, 2003. "The distributional effects of international outsourcing in a 2 x 2 production model," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 189-206, August.
    20. Geishecker, Ingo & Görg, Holger & Munch, Jakob R., 2007. "Do Labour Market Institutions Matter? Micro-Level Wage Effects of International Outsourcing in Three European Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 3212, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    21. A. Arrighetti & A. Ninni & E. Breda & R. Cappariello & M. Clemens & D. Schumacher, 2012. "Competitiveness in manufacturing. Germany vs. Italy – a comparison," Economics Department Working Papers 2012-EP01, Department of Economics, Parma University (Italy).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    off-shoring; material off-shoring; service off-shoring; labor; productivity; industrial sector;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F02 - International Economics - - General - - - International Economic Order and Integration
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies 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:fec:journl:v:6:y:2011:i:2:p:271-289. 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: Frank H. Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.