IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/12816.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Trade in Business Services in General Equilibrium

Author

Listed:
  • James R. Markusen
  • Bridget Strand

Abstract

Trade in business services has been attracting attention from academic researchers, policy makers, and business journalists. While there are many anecdotes, there has been little in the way of formal theory applied to this issue. In this paper, we adapt a general model of fragmentation of production activities to try to capture the specific features of business services. Following a general discussion, we calibrate a numerical general-equilibrium simulation model to a situation in which both trade and foreign investment in services are initially banned to technically infeasible. We then compute three counter-factual scenarios: one in which trade but not investment in services is feasible or allowed, one in which investment but not trade is allowed, and onein which both trade and investment in services are allowed.

Suggested Citation

  • James R. Markusen & Bridget Strand, 2007. "Trade in Business Services in General Equilibrium," NBER Working Papers 12816, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12816
    Note: ITI
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w12816.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James R. Markusen, 2004. "Multinational Firms and the Theory of International Trade," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262633078, April.
    2. Markusen, James R, 1989. "Trade in Producer Services and in Other Specialized Intermediate Inputs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(1), pages 85-95, March.
    3. Brainard, S Lael, 1997. "An Empirical Assessment of the Proximity-Concentration Trade-off between Multinational Sales and Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(4), pages 520-544, September.
    4. Markusen, James R., 1990. "Derationalizing tariffs with specialized intermediate inputs and differentiated final goods," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3-4), pages 375-383, May.
    5. Joseph F. Francois, 1990. "Trade in Producer Services and Returns Due to Specialization under Monopolistic Competition," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 23(1), pages 109-124, February.
    6. J. Peter Neary, 1995. "Factor Mobility and International Trade," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 28(s1), pages 4-23, November.
    7. Jagdish Bhagwati & Arvind Panagariya, 2004. "The Muddles over Outsourcing," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(4), pages 93-114, Fall.
    8. Zhang, Kevin Honglin & Markusen, James R., 1999. "Vertical multinationals and host-country characteristics," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 233-252, August.
    9. Hoekman, Bernard, 2006. "Liberalizing trade in services : a survey," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4030, The World Bank.
    10. James Markusen & Thomas F. Rutherford & David Tarr, 2017. "Trade and direct investment in producer services and the domestic market for expertise," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Trade Policies for Development and Transition, chapter 19, pages 439-458, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    11. Alan V. Deardorff, 2011. "Fragmentation in simple trade models," 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 16, pages 165-181, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    12. Norman, Victor D & Venables, Anthony J, 1995. "International Trade, Factor Mobility and Trade Costs," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 105(433), pages 1488-1504, November.
    13. 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.
    14. Venables, Anthony & Markusen, James, 2005. "A Multi-Country Approach to Factor-Proportions Trade and Trade Costs," CEPR Discussion Papers 4872, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    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. James R. MARKUSEN, 2021. "Multinationals, Multi-Plant Economies, And The Gains From Trade," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: BROADENING TRADE THEORY Incorporating Market Realities into Traditional Models, chapter 1, pages 3-24, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    17. 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.
    18. James R. MARKUSEN, 2021. "Factor Movements And Commodity Trade As Complements," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: BROADENING TRADE THEORY Incorporating Market Realities into Traditional Models, chapter 15, pages 325-340, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    19. Kei-Mu Yi, 2003. "Can Vertical Specialization Explain the Growth of World Trade?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(1), pages 52-102, February.
    20. Venables, Anthony J, 1996. "Equilibrium Locations of Vertically Linked Industries," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 37(2), pages 341-359, May.
    21. Francois, Joseph F, 1990. "Producer Services, Scale, and the Division of Labor," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 42(4), pages 715-729, October.
    22. Pol Antràs, 2003. "Firms, Contracts, and Trade Structure," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(4), pages 1375-1418.
    23. Jones, Ronald W. & Coelho, Isaias & Easton, Stephen T., 1986. "The theory of international factor flows: The basic model," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(3-4), pages 313-327, May.
    24. Ethier, Wilfred J, 1982. "National and International Returns to Scale in the Modern Theory of International Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(3), pages 389-405, June.
    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. De Camino, Claudia & Finot, Alfonso & Mulder, Nanno & Sáez, Sebastián, 2007. "Trade in services in Latin America and the Caribbean: an analysis of recent trends," Comercio Internacional 4429, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    2. Rosario Crinò, 2012. "Service Offshoring and the Skill Composition of Labour Demand," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 74(1), pages 20-57, February.
    3. Kox, Henk L.M. & Rubalcaba, Luis, 2007. "Business services and the changing structure of European economic growth," MPRA Paper 3750, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. 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.
    5. Chisari, Omar O. & Maquieyra, Javier & Romero, Carlos A., 2009. "Liberalization of trade in services: A CGE analysis for Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay," MPRA Paper 15336, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Daniel CHIQUIAR & Martín TOBAL & Renato YSLAS, 2019. "Measuring and understanding trade in service tasks," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 158(1), pages 169-190, March.
    7. Jianghuai Zheng & Lili Zhang & Yu Wang, 2011. "The Underdevelopment of Service Industry in China: An Empirical Study of Cities in Yangtze River Delta," Frontiers of Economics in China-Selected Publications from Chinese Universities, Higher Education Press, vol. 6(3), pages 413-446, September.
    8. Frank A.G. den Butter & Christiaan Pattipeilohy, 2007. "Productivity Gains from Offshoring: an Empirical Analysis for the Netherlands," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 07-089/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    9. Erik der Marel & Sébastien Miroudot, 2014. "The economics and political economy of going beyond the GATS," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 9(2), pages 205-239, June.
    10. Rosario Crinò, 2010. "Service Offshoring and White-Collar Employment," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 77(2), pages 595-632.
    11. Tobal, Martin, 2011. "A Rationale For Evidence On Service Offshoring," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series qt5s4056z6, Department of Economics, UC San Diego.
    12. Zheng, Jianghuai & Zhang, Lili & Wang, Yu, 2010. "The underdevelopment of service industry in China: an empirical study of cities in Yangtze River Delta," MPRA Paper 33125, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Jun 2011.
    13. Zhang, Jingjing, 2012. "Inflow of labour, producer services and wage inequality," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 117(3), pages 600-603.
    14. Zhang, Jingjing, 2013. "Factor mobility and skilled–unskilled wage inequality in the presence of internationally traded product varieties," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 579-585.
    15. Manders, Ton & Bollen, Johannes & Dave, Rutu, 2007. "Trade sanctions and Climate Policy," Conference papers 331617, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    16. Anwar, Sajid, 2009. "Sector specific foreign investment, labour inflow, economies of scale and welfare," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 626-630, May.

    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. Markusen, James, 2005. "Modeling the Offshoring of White-Collar Services: From Comparative Advantage to the New Theories of Trade and FDI," CEPR Discussion Papers 5408, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. James Markusen & Bridget Strand, 2008. "Offshoring of Business Services in Small Open Economies: Toward a General-Equilibrium Modeling Approach," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 8(3), pages 231-246, December.
    3. James R. Markusen & Bridget Strand, 2009. "Adapting the Knowledge‐capital Model of the Multinational Enterprise to Trade and Investment in Business Services," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 6-29, January.
    4. Joseph Francois & Douglas R. Nelson, 2000. "Victims of Progress: Economic Integration, Specialization, and Wages for Unskilled Labor," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 00-065/2, Tinbergen Institute.
    5. Joseph Francois & Bernard Hoekman, 2010. "Services Trade and Policy," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(3), pages 642-692, September.
    6. Baldwin, Richard & Robert-Nicoud, Frédéric, 2007. "Offshoring: General Equilibrium Effects on Wages, Production and Trade," CEPR Discussion Papers 6218, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Michael C. Burda & Barbara Dluhosch, 2002. "Fragmentation, Globalisation and Labour Markets," International Economic Association Series, in: David Greenaway & Richard Upward & Katharine Wakelin (ed.), Trade, Investment, Migration and Labour Market Adjustment, chapter 4, pages 47-65, Palgrave Macmillan.
    8. Naoto Jinji & Xingyuan Zhang & Shoji Haruna, 2022. "Deep Integration, Global Firms, and Technology Spillovers," Advances in Japanese Business and Economics, Springer, number 978-981-16-5210-3, June.
    9. Andreas Waldkirch, 2004. "Vertical FDI? A Host Country Perspective," International Trade 0403008, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Lopez-Gonzalez, Javier, 2012. "The Impact of Free Trade Agreements on Vertical Specialisation," Papers 442, World Trade Institute.
    11. Hoekman, Bernard & Mattoo, Aaditya, 2008. "Services trade and growth," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4461, The World Bank.
    12. Michael C. Burda & Barbara Dluhosch, 2002. "Cost Competition, Fragmentation, and Globalization," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(3), pages 424-441, August.
    13. Mary Amiti & Shang-Jin Wei, 2005. "Fear of service outsourcing: is it justified? [‘Location of vertically linked industries: agglomeration versus comparative advantage’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 20(42), pages 308-347.
    14. Tarr, David G., 2013. "Putting Services and Foreign Direct Investment with Endogenous Productivity Effects in Computable General Equilibrium Models," Handbook of Computable General Equilibrium Modeling, in: Peter B. Dixon & Dale Jorgenson (ed.), Handbook of Computable General Equilibrium Modeling, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 303-377, Elsevier.
    15. 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.
    16. Huang, Kevin X.D. & Liu, Zheng, 2007. "Business cycles with staggered prices and international trade in intermediate inputs," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(4), pages 1271-1289, May.
    17. Andreas Waldkirch, 2011. "Comparative advantage FDI? A host country perspective," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 147(3), pages 485-505, September.
    18. Markusen, James R. & Venables, Anthony J., 2007. "Interacting factor endowments and trade costs: A multi-country, multi-good approach to trade theory," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 333-354, November.
    19. Joseph Francois & Julia Woerz, 2008. "Producer Services, Manufacturing Linkages, and Trade," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 8(3), pages 199-229, December.
    20. Davies, Ronald B., 2005. "Fragmentation of headquarter services and FDI," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 61-79, March.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F0 - International Economics - - General
    • F2 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business

    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:nbr:nberwo:12816. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.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.