IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/fiefwp/0208.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Inward FDI and Demand for Skills in Sweden

Author

Listed:
  • Roger, Bandick

    (FIEF and Örebro University)

  • Hansson, Pär

    (FIEF and Örebro University)

Abstract

We observe a substantial increase of foreign ownership in Sweden in the 1990s. Did that have any effect on relative demand for skilled labor? Has technology transfers often associated with inward FDI led to increased demand for skills due to skilled-biased technical change? Are there any grounds for the worries in the public Swedish debate that more skilled activities have been moved abroad to countries where the headquarters are located? We obtain support for that the share of skilled labor tends to rise in non-multinationals but not in multinationals that become foreign owned. Yet it does not seem to be any relationship between increased foreign ownership and the relative demand for skilled labor in Swedish manufacturing between 1986 and 2000. Interestingly, increased competition from low-wage countries, rather than inward FDI, has had significant impact on skill upgrading, and appears to have played a larger role in the 1990s than before.

Suggested Citation

  • Roger, Bandick & Hansson, Pär, 2005. "Inward FDI and Demand for Skills in Sweden," Working Paper Series 208, Trade Union Institute for Economic Research.
  • Handle: RePEc:hhs:fiefwp:0208
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://swopec.hhs.se/fiefwp/papers/WP208.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Taylor, Karl & Driffield, Nigel, 2005. "Wage inequality and the role of multinationals: evidence from UK panel data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 223-249, April.
    2. Almeida, Rita K., 2003. "The Effects of Foreign Owned Firms on the Labor Market," IZA Discussion Papers 785, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Pär Hansson, 2005. "Skill Upgrading and Production Transfer within Swedish Multinationals," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 107(4), pages 673-692, December.
    4. Mark E. Doms & J . Bradford Jensen, 1998. "Comparing Wages, Skills, and Productivity between Domestically and Foreign-Owned Manufacturing Establishments in the United States," NBER Chapters, in: Geography and Ownership as Bases for Economic Accounting, pages 235-258, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Per-Anders Edin & Bertil Holmlund, 1995. "The Swedish Wage Structure: The Rise and Fall of Solidarity Wage Policy?," NBER Chapters, in: Differences and Changes in Wage Structures, pages 307-344, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Paolo Figini & Holger Görg, 1999. "Multinational companies and wage inequality in the host country: The case of Ireland," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 135(4), pages 594-612, December.
    7. Head, Keith & Ries, John, 2002. "Offshore production and skill upgrading by Japanese manufacturing firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 81-105, October.
    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. Pär Hansson, 2000. "Relative Demand for Skills in Swedish Manufacturing: Technology or Trade?," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(3), pages 533-555, August.
    10. Feenstra, Robert C. & Hanson, Gordon H., 1997. "Foreign direct investment and relative wages: Evidence from Mexico's maquiladoras," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3-4), pages 371-393, May.
    11. Slaughter, Matthew J., 2000. "Production transfer within multinational enterprises and American wages," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 449-472, April.
    12. Bruce A. Blonigen & Matthew J. Slaughter, 2019. "Foreign-Affiliate Activity and U.S. Skill Upgrading," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foreign Direct Investment, chapter 10, pages 325-367, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    13. 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.
    14. Stephen Machin & John Van Reenen, 1998. "Technology and Changes in Skill Structure: Evidence from Seven OECD Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(4), pages 1215-1244.
    15. Richard B. Freeman & Lawrence F. Katz, 1995. "Differences and Changes in Wage Structures," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number free95-1.
    16. David H. Autor & Lawrence F. Katz & Alan B. Krueger, 1998. "Computing Inequality: Have Computers Changed the Labor Market?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(4), pages 1169-1213.
    17. repec:bla:reviec:v:8:y:2000:i:3:p:533-55 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Markusen, James R & Venables, Anthony J, 1997. "The Role of Multinational Firms in the Wage-Gap Debate," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(4), pages 435-451, November.
    19. Bandick, Roger, 2004. "Do Workers Benefit from Foreign Ownership? Evidence from Swedish manufacturing," Working Paper Series 201, Trade Union Institute for Economic Research.
    20. Freeman, Richard B. & Katz, Lawrence F. (ed.), 1995. "Differences and Changes in Wage Structures," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226261607, April.
    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. Bandick, Roger & Karpaty, Patrick, 2007. "Foregin Acquisition and Employment Effects in Swedish Manufacturing," Working Papers 2007:10, Örebro University, School of Business.

    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. Roger Bandick & Pär Hansson, 2009. "Inward FDI and demand for skills in manufacturing firms in Sweden," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 145(1), pages 111-131, April.
    2. 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.
    3. Giovanni S.F. Bruno & Rosario Crinò & Anna M. Falzoni, 2004. "Foreign Direct Investment, Wage Inequality, and Skilled Labor Demand in EU Accession Countries," KITeS Working Papers 154, KITeS, Centre for Knowledge, Internationalization and Technology Studies, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy, revised Feb 2004.
    4. Pär Hansson, 2000. "Relative Demand for Skills in Swedish Manufacturing: Technology or Trade?," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(3), pages 533-555, August.
    5. Vivarelli, Marco, 2012. "Innovation, Employment and Skills in Advanced and Developing Countries: A Survey of the Literature," IZA Discussion Papers 6291, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Dennis J. Snower, 1998. "Causes of changing earnings inequality," Proceedings - Economic Policy Symposium - Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, pages 69-133.
    7. 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.
    8. Sourafel Girma & Holger Görg, 2016. "Evaluating the foreign ownership wage premium using a difference-in-differences matching approach," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES AND HOST COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT Volume 53: World Scientific Studies in International Economics, chapter 2, pages 17-32, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    9. Ana Margarida Fernandez & Pablo Fajnzylber, 2004. "International Technology Diffusion and the Demand for Skilled Labor: Evidence from East Asia and Latin America," Econometric Society 2004 Latin American Meetings 290, Econometric Society.
    10. J. Mullen & Stephen Nord & Martin Williams, 2005. "Regional Skill Structure and the Diffusion of Technology," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 33(1), pages 115-131, March.
    11. Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2004. "The determinants of the skill bias in Italy: R&D, organisation or globalisation?," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(4), pages 329-347.
    12. Matthew J. Lindquist, 2005. "Capital–Skill Complementarity and Inequality in Sweden," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 107(4), pages 711-735, December.
    13. Dierk Herzer & Peter Nunnenkamp, 2013. "Inward and outward FDI and income inequality: evidence from Europe," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 149(2), pages 395-422, June.
    14. Fajnzylber, Pablo & Fernandes,Ana Margarida, 2004. "International economic activities and the demand for skilled labor: evidence from Brazil and China," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3426, The World Bank.
    15. Eliasson, Kent & Hansson, Pär & Lindvert, Markus, 2018. "Decomposing value chains within Swedish multinationals," Working Papers 2018:9, Örebro University, School of Business.
    16. repec:wsr:wpaper:y:2012:i:077 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Hollanders, Hugo & ter Weel, Bas, 2002. "Technology, knowledge spillovers and changes in employment structure: evidence from six OECD countries," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(5), pages 579-599, November.
    18. Oscarsson, Eva, 2000. "Trade, Employment and Wages in Sweden 1975-93," Research Papers in Economics 2000:8, Stockholm University, Department of Economics.
    19. Ilina Srour & Erol Taymaz & Marco Vivarelli, 2014. "Globalization, Technology and Skills: Evidence from Turkish Longitudinal Microdata," ERC Working Papers 1405, ERC - Economic Research Center, Middle East Technical University, revised Jun 2014.
    20. Daron Acemoglu, 2002. "Technical Change, Inequality, and the Labor Market," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(1), pages 7-72, March.
    21. Iammarino, Simona & Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Gagliardi, Luisa, 2015. "Offshoring and the Geography of Jobs in Great Britain," CEPR Discussion Papers 10855, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Foreign ownership; skill upgrading; wage differentials;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:hhs:fiefwp:0208. 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: Sune Karlsson (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fieffse.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.