IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/uma/periwp/wp27.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Threat Effect of Foreign Direct Investment on Labor Union Wage Premium

Author

Listed:
  • Minsik Choi

Abstract

This paper explores the impact of “threat effects” of foreign direct investment on labor markets in the United States. In this context, the term “threat effect” refers to the use by employers of the implicit or explicit threat that they will move all or part of their production to a different location, even if they do not actually do so. In this paper, I construct a unique industry level panel data set and I show that the union wage premium has been negatively associated with the stock of outward FDI in the U.S. manufacturing sector for the period of 1983-1996. The union wage premium is chosen as the dependent variable to test the hypothesis that the increased capital mobility changes the nature of bargaining between workers and employers as predicted in threat effect theory.

Suggested Citation

  • Minsik Choi, 2001. "Threat Effect of Foreign Direct Investment on Labor Union Wage Premium," Working Papers wp27, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    • Handle: RePEc:uma:periwp:wp27
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://per.umass.edu/fileadmin/pdf/working_papers/working_papers_1-50/WP27.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. André Sapir & Richard Baldwin & Daniel Cohen & Anthony Venables, 1999. "Market integration, regionalism and the global economy," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/8074, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    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. Allen, Steven G, 2001. "Technology and the Wage Structure," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(2), pages 440-483, April.
    4. John M. Abowd & Thomas Lemieux, 1991. "The Effects of International Competition on Collective Bargaining Outcomes: A Comparison of the United States and Canada," NBER Chapters, in: Immigration, Trade, and the Labor Market, pages 343-367, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Lawrence F. Katz & Lawrence H. Summers, 1989. "Can Interindustry Wage Differentials Justify Strategic Trade Policy?," NBER Chapters, in: Trade Policies for International Competitiveness, pages 85-124, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Orley Ashenfelter, 1978. "Union Relative Wage Effects: New Evidence and a Survey of their Implications for Wage Inflation," International Economic Association Series, in: Richard Stone & William Peterson (ed.), Econometric Contributions to Public Policy, chapter 2, pages 31-63, Palgrave Macmillan.
    7. Zhao, Laixun, 1995. "Cross-hauling direct foreign investment and unionized oligopoly," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 1237-1253, June.
    8. David A. MacPherson & James B. Stewart, 1990. "The Effect of International Competition on Union and Nonunion Wages," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 43(4), pages 434-446, July.
    9. Abowd, John M. & Freeman, Richard B. (ed.), 1991. "Immigration, Trade, and the Labor Market," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226000954, September.
    10. Bughin, Jacques & Vannini, Stefano, 1995. "Strategic direct investment under unionized oligopoly," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 127-145, March.
    11. George J. Borjas, 2021. "Self-Selection and the Earnings of Immigrants," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 4, pages 69-91, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    12. Richard B. Freeman & Lawrence F. Katz, 1991. "Industrial Wage and Employment Determination in an Open Economy," NBER Chapters, in: Immigration, Trade, and the Labor Market, pages 235-259, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. McDonald, Ian M & Solow, Robert M, 1981. "Wage Bargaining and Employment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(5), pages 896-908, December.
    14. Gordon H. Hanson & Raymond J. Mataloni & Matthew J. Slaughter, 2001. "Expansion Strategies of U.S. Multinational Firms," BEA Papers 0012, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
    15. Dani Rodrik, 1998. "Has Globalization Gone Too Far?," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(2), pages 81-94, March.
    16. Richard J. Cebula & Usha Nair-Reichert, 2000. "Union Rent Seeking and Import Competition in U.S. Manufacturing," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 21(3), pages 477-487, July.
    17. Zhao, Laixun, 1998. "The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on Wages and Employment," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 50(2), pages 284-301, April.
    18. Richard B. Freeman, 1995. "Are Your Wages Set in Beijing?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 15-32, Summer.
    19. Card, David, 1996. "The Effect of Unions on the Structure of Wages: A Longitudinal Analysis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(4), pages 957-979, July.
    20. William T. Dickens & Lawrence F. Katz, 1986. "Interindustry Wage Differences and Industry Characteristics," NBER Working Papers 2014, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Manning, Alan, 1987. "An Integration of Trade Union Models in a Sequential Bargaining Framework," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 97(385), pages 121-139, March.
    22. Gaston, Noel & Trefler, Daniel, 1995. "Union wage sensitivity to trade and protection: Theory and evidence," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1-2), pages 1-25, August.
    23. John M. Abowd & Richard B. Freeman, 1991. "Immigration, Trade, and the Labor Market," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number abow91-1.
    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. Leahy, Dermot & Montagna, Catia, 2012. "Strategic investment and international outsourcing in unionised oligopoly," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 260-269.
    2. Jorge Saba Arbache, 2001. "Trade Liberalisation and Labor Markets in Developing Countries: Theory and Evidence," Studies in Economics 0112, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    3. Gaston, Noel & Trefler, Daniel, 1995. "Union wage sensitivity to trade and protection: Theory and evidence," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1-2), pages 1-25, August.
    4. Jorge Saba Arbache, 1999. "Trade Liberalisation and Insider Power: The Case of Brazil," Studies in Economics 9902, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    5. John W. Budd & Matthew J.Slaughter, 2000. "Are Profits Shared Across Borders? Evidence on International Rent Sharing," NBER Working Papers 8014, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Konings, Jozef, 2004. "The employment effects of foreign direct investment," EIB Papers 4/2004, European Investment Bank, Economics Department.
    7. 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.
    8. Dube Arindrajit & Reddy Sanjay G., 2014. "Threat Effects and Trade: Wage Discipline through Product Market Competition," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 4(2), pages 213-252, March.
    9. Magnani, Elisabetta & Prentice, David, 2003. "Did globalization reduce unionization? Evidence from US manufacturing," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(6), pages 705-726, December.
    10. Feenstra, Robert C., 1995. "Estimating the effects of trade policy," Handbook of International Economics, in: G. M. Grossman & K. Rogoff (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 30, pages 1553-1595, Elsevier.
    11. Yongsik Jeon & Chul‐Woo Kwon, 2021. "Offshoring, the threat effect, and wage inequality," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 17(2), pages 135-150, June.
    12. Runar Brännlund & Jonas Nordström & Jesper Stage & Dick Svedin, 2016. "Foreign ownership and its effects on employment and wages: the case of Sweden," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-17, December.
    13. Yiping Zhu, 2008. "Globalisation, Employment, and Wage Rate: What Does Literature Tell Us?," IMK Working Paper 07-2008, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    14. Jeon, Yongsik & Kwon, Chul-Woo, 2018. "The offshoring threat and wage negotiations: Theory and evidence," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 19-29.
    15. Jan Rose Skaksen, 2004. "International outsourcing when labour markets are unionized," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(1), pages 78-94, February.
    16. Younès, Yves, 1994. "Géo-économie politique de la transformation de l'économie américaine : 1975-1990," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Couverture Orange) 9409, CEPREMAP.
    17. John W. Budd & Jozef Konings & Matthew J. Slaughter, 2005. "Wages and International Rent Sharing in Multinational Firms," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(1), pages 73-84, February.
    18. Matthew J. Slaughter, 1997. "International Trade and Labor-Demand Elasticities," NBER Working Papers 6262, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Hans-Jurgen Engelbrecht, 1997. "The Impact of International Trade on Real Wages in U.S. Manufacturing, 1985-1989," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(1), pages 69-86.
    20. George J. Borjas & Richard B. Freeman & Lawrence F. Katz, 1992. "On the Labor Market Effects of Immigration and Trade," NBER Chapters, in: Immigration and the Work Force: Economic Consequences for the United States and Source Areas, pages 213-244, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    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:uma:periwp:wp27. 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: Judy Fogg (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/permaus.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.