Trade with China and Skill Upgrading: Evidence from Belgian Firm Level Data
We use Belgianfirm-level data over the period 1996-2007 to analyze the impact of im- ports from China and other low-wage countries onfirm growth, exit, and skill upgrading in manufacturing. For this purpose we use both industry-level andfirm-level imports by country of origin and distinguish betweenfirm-level outsourcing of nal versus intfirmediate goods. Results indicate that, both industry-level import competition andfirm-level outsourcing to China reducefirm employment growth and induce skill upgrading. In contrast, industry-level imports have no e ect on Belgianfirm survival, whilefirm-lev... Mehr ...
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Dokumenttyp: | doc-type:workingPaper |
Erscheinungsdatum: | 2009 |
Verlag/Hrsg.: |
Leuven: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
LICOS Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance |
Schlagwörter: | ddc:330 / F11 / F14 / F16 / import competition / outsourcing / China / skill upgrading / Internationaler Wettbewerb / Import / Unternehmenserfolg / Humankapital / Qualifikation / Industrie / Belgien |
Sprache: | Englisch |
Permalink: | https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-28496541 |
Datenquelle: | BASE; Originalkatalog |
Powered By: | BASE |
Link(s) : | http://hdl.handle.net/10419/75024 |
We use Belgianfirm-level data over the period 1996-2007 to analyze the impact of im- ports from China and other low-wage countries onfirm growth, exit, and skill upgrading in manufacturing. For this purpose we use both industry-level andfirm-level imports by country of origin and distinguish betweenfirm-level outsourcing of nal versus intfirmediate goods. Results indicate that, both industry-level import competition andfirm-level outsourcing to China reducefirm employment growth and induce skill upgrading. In contrast, industry-level imports have no e ect on Belgianfirm survival, whilefirm-level outsourcing of nished goods to China even increasedfirm's probability of survival. In tfirms of skill upgrading, the e ect of Chinese imports is large. Industry import competition from China accounts for 42% of the withinfirm increase in the share of skilled workers in Belgian manufacturing over the period of our analysis, but this e ect, as well as the employment reducing e ect, remains mainly in low- tech industries. firm-level outsourcing to China further accounts for a small but signi cant increase in the share of non-production workers. This change in employment structure is in line with predictions of o shoring models and Schott's (2008) 'moving up the quality ladder' story. All these results are robust to IV estimation.