Offshoring, matching, and wage inequality: theory and evidence
Kim, Gueyon ; Lee, Dohyeon ; Pozzoli, Dario
Institute of Labor Economics, Bonn
IZA - Bonn
2025
71 p.
wage differential ; international relocation of industry ; outsourcing
Discussion Paper
176
Wages and wage payment systems
https://docs.iza.org/dp17663.pdf
English
Bibliogr.
"This paper examines how offshoring affects worker skill demands and studies its implications for wage inequality. Using Danish administrative data, we find that offshoring increases firm-level demand for higher skills in occupations with high exposure to foreign competition. This effect is more pronounced in low-productivity firms, highlighting distributional impacts across firms. By constructing a Becker-type worker-firm matching model in a global economy, we demonstrate underlying mechanisms and quantify the role of offshoring-induced adjustments. Offshoring increases firm similarity in worker skill and wages within high-exposed jobs, leading to a decrease in between-firm inequality—a contrast to the effects of technological change."
Digital
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