IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jadmsc/v14y2024i10p239-d1488430.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Portuguese Textiles and Apparel Industry: Assessing the Effect of International Trade on Employment and Green Employment

Author

Listed:
  • Vitor Miguel Ribeiro

    (Faculty of Economics, University of Porto, 4200-464 Porto, Portugal)

Abstract

This study examines the impact of international trade activities on employment in the Portuguese textiles and apparel industry from 2010 to 2017. It finds evidence that imports and exports have a persistent, negative, and significant effect on overall job creation, with this impact intensifying over the long-run. Additionally, the increasing elasticity of substitution between imports and exports indicates that private companies of this industry have benefited from a win–win situation characterised by higher production volumes and lower marginal costs. By applying an unsupervised machine-learning method, followed by a discrete choice analysis to infer the firm-level propensity to possess green capital, we identify a phenomenon termed the green international trade paradox . This study also reveals that international trade activities positively influence green job creation in firms lacking green capital if and only if these players are engaged in international markets while negatively affecting firms already endowed with green technologies. As such, empirical results suggest that the export-oriented economic model followed over the last decade by the Portuguese textiles and apparel industry has not necessarily generated new domestic employment opportunities but has significantly altered the magnitude and profile of skill requirements that employers seek to identify in new workforce hires.

Suggested Citation

  • Vitor Miguel Ribeiro, 2024. "Portuguese Textiles and Apparel Industry: Assessing the Effect of International Trade on Employment and Green Employment," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-66, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jadmsc:v:14:y:2024:i:10:p:239-:d:1488430
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/14/10/239/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/14/10/239/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mussa, Michael, 1978. "Dynamic Adjustment in the Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson Model," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(5), pages 775-791, October.
    2. Martín García Vaquero & Antonio Sánchez-Bayón & José Lominchar, 2021. "European Green Deal and Recovery Plan: Green Jobs, Skills and Wellbeing Economics in Spain," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-20, July.
    3. Robert E. Baldwin, 1995. "The Effects of Trade and Foreign Direct Investment on Employment and Relative Wages," NBER Working Papers 5037, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Ipek Kazancoglu & Muhittin Sagnak & Sachin Kumar Mangla & Yigit Kazancoglu, 2021. "Circular economy and the policy: A framework for improving the corporate environmental management in supply chains," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 590-608, January.
    5. Francioni, Barbara & Martín Martín, Oscar, 2024. "International market, network, and opportunity selection: A systematic review of empirical research, integrative framework, and comprehensive research agenda," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(5).
    6. Denise Reike & Marko P. Hekkert & Simona O. Negro, 2023. "Understanding circular economy transitions: The case of circular textiles," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 1032-1058, March.
    7. Robert E. Lucas Jr., 1978. "On the Size Distribution of Business Firms," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 9(2), pages 508-523, Autumn.
    8. Audretsch, David B., 1995. "Innovation, growth and survival," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 441-457, December.
    9. Anthony Goerzen & Christian Geisler Asmussen & Bo Bernhard Nielsen, 2024. "Global cities, the liability of foreignness, and theory on place and space in international business," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 55(1), pages 10-27, February.
    10. Evans, David S, 1987. "Tests of Alternative Theories of Firm Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 95(4), pages 657-674, August.
    11. Greenaway, David & Hine, Robert C. & Wright, Peter, 1999. "An empirical assessment of the impact of trade on employment in the United Kingdom," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 485-500, September.
    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. Alex Coad, 2007. "Firm Growth: a Survey," Post-Print halshs-00155762, HAL.
    2. José Miguel Benavente & Christian Ferrada, 2004. "Probability of Survival of New Manufacturing Plants: the case of Chile," Econometric Society 2004 Latin American Meetings 305, Econometric Society.
    3. Wadho, Waqar & Goedhuys, Micheline & Chaudhry, Azam, 2019. "Young innovative companies and employment creation, evidence from the Pakistani textiles sector," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 139-152.
    4. Aili Tang, 2015. "Does Gibrat’s law hold for Swedish energy firms?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 659-674, September.
    5. Tang, Ali, 2014. "Does Gibrat’s Law Hold for Swedish Energy Firms?," HUI Working Papers 99, HUI Research.
    6. Sleuwaegen, Leo & Goedhuys, Micheline, 2002. "Growth of firms in developing countries, evidence from Cote d'Ivoire," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 117-135, June.
    7. Lee, Chang-Yang, 2010. "A theory of firm growth: Learning capability, knowledge threshold, and patterns of growth," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 278-289, March.
    8. Ghosh, Saibal, 2009. "Do productivity and ownership really matter for growth? Firm-level evidence," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 1403-1413, November.
    9. Mulligan, Robert F., 2004. "Fractal analysis of highly volatile markets: an application to technology equities," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 155-179, February.
    10. Francesca Lotti & Enrico Santarelli & Marco Vivarelli, 2009. "Defending Gibrat’s Law as a long-run regularity," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 31-44, January.
    11. Geurts, Karen & Van Biesebroeck, Johannes, 2016. "Firm creation and post-entry dynamics of de novo entrants," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 59-104.
    12. repec:lic:licosd:11402 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Blonigen, Bruce A. & Tomlin, KaSaundra, 2001. "Size and growth of Japanese plants in the United States," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 931-952, May.
    14. André van Stel & Andrew Burke & José Maria Millán & Concepcion Roman, 2013. "Start-Up Size Strategy and Risk Management: Impact on New Venture Performance," Scales Research Reports H201207, EIM Business and Policy Research.
    15. Roy Thurik, 2014. "Entrepreneurship and the business cycle," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-90, October.
    16. Rajan, Raghuram & Laeven, Luc & Klapper, Leora F., 2004. "Business Environment and Firm Entry: Evidence from International Data," CEPR Discussion Papers 4366, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Klapper, Leora & Laeven, Luc & Rajan, Raghuram, 2006. "Entry regulation as a barrier to entrepreneurship," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(3), pages 591-629, December.
    18. Tarek Ibrahim Eldomiaty & Mohamed Hashem Rashwan & Mohamed Bahaa El Din & Waleed Tayel, 2016. "Firm, industry and economic determinants of working capital at risk," International Journal of Financial Engineering (IJFE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 3(04), pages 1-29, December.
    19. Vojislav Maksimovic & Gordon Phillips, 2002. "Do Conglomerate Firms Allocate Resources Inefficiently Across Industries? Theory and Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(2), pages 721-767, April.
    20. Cefis, Elena & Ciccarelli, Matteo & Orsenigo, Luigi, 2007. "Testing Gibrat's legacy: A Bayesian approach to study the growth of firms," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 348-369, September.
    21. Galina Vereshchagina & Hugo A. Hopenhayn, 2009. "Risk Taking by Entrepreneurs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(5), pages 1808-1830, December.

    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:gam:jadmsc:v:14:y:2024:i:10:p:239-:d:1488430. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.