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Unemployment and welfare consequences of international outsourcing under monopolistic competition
Author(s) -
Brecher Richard A.,
Chen Zhiqi
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
canadian journal of economics/revue canadienne d'économique
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.773
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1540-5982
pISSN - 0008-4085
DOI - 10.1111/caje.12089
Subject(s) - outsourcing , monopolistic competition , welfare , labour economics , unemployment , economics , wage , competition (biology) , monopoly , business , market economy , economic growth , ecology , marketing , biology
Abstract This paper challenges the conventional academic view that international outsourcing is just another form of gainful trade. Contrary to that view, we show that labour‐service outsourcing can reduce the high‐wage country's welfare even when product‐market trade is beneficial, within a model that combines involuntary unemployment and monopolistic competition. Outsourcing's impact on welfare is worsened by a definite loss of jobs and a possible contraction in the range of varieties produced worldwide. While owners of capital benefit from outsourcing under certain conditions, labour's welfare always falls.