Offshoring and the distribution of skills
成果类型：
Article
署名作者：
Goto, Hiroshi; Ma, Yan; Takeuchi, Nobuyuki
署名单位：
Chiba University; Kobe University; University of Marketing & Distribution Sciences
刊物名称：
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC THEORY
ISSN/ISSBN：
0022-0531
DOI：
10.1016/j.jet.2025.105994
发表日期：
2025
关键词：
摘要：
We develop a two-sector model to explore how skill distribution affects trade in final goods and offshoring. We show that when countries differ in skill abundance, wage disparities create opportunities for offshoring. In contrast, when countries vary in skill diversity but share the same median skill, symmetric skill distributions render offshoring infeasible. We also find that offshoring can result in the relative price under offshoring being lower than each country's autarky relative price if the gap between the median skill levels of the two countries is sufficiently large. Finally, we demonstrate that an individual's industry of employment primarily determines how they are affected by trade in final goods, whereas their occupation (tasks) shapes how they are impacted by offshoring.