Firm Heterogeneity, Contract Enforcement, and the Industry Dynamics of Offshoring

Alireza Naghavi and Gianmarco Ottaviano

No 22, KITeS Working Papers from KITeS, Centre for Knowledge, Internationalization and Technology Studies, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy

Abstract: develop an endogenous growth model to study the long run consequences of offshoring with firm heterogeneity and incomplete contracts. In so doing, we model offshoring as the geographical fragmentation of a firm’s production chain between a home upstream division and a foreign downstream one. On the positive side, we show that, when contracts are incomplete, the possibility of offshoring has favorable implications for economic growth. Yet, offshoring induced by a higher bargaining power of the upstream division can hamper growth: while there is always a positive correlation between upstream bargaining weight and offshoring activities, there is a non-monotonic relationship between these and growth. Whether offshoring with incomplete contracts also increases consumption depends on firm heterogeneity. On the normative side, we show that, whereas with complete contract efficiency is restored through a subsidy to R&D only, with incomplete contracts a production subsidy to offshored upstream divisions is needed too.

Keywords: offshoring; heterogeneous firms; incomplete contracts; growth; industry dynamics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D23 F23 L23 O31 O43 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 30 pages
Date: 2009-05, Revised 2009-05
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Firm Heterogeneity, Contract Enforcement, and the Industry Dynamics of Offshoring (2009)
Working Paper: Firm Heterogeneity, Contract Enforcement, and the Industry Dynamics of Offshoring (2009)
Working Paper: Firm Heterogeneity, Contract Enforcement, and the Industry Dynamics of Offshoring (2009)
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