Global Economy Journal

This article considers how the process of outsourcing results in economic changes in factor usage and productivity in developed countries. Some scholars have incorrectly interpreted these observed changes as being the result of biased skilled-labor using technological change. This article examines the size and significance of vertical specialization, and describes how outsourcing contributes to increased inequality in developed nations. The effects of outsourcing on labor market outcomes in the developing world are also explored. The author describes the potential implications and significance of outsourcing services. The major conclusion is that the downward pressure on the wages of the unskilled is likely to continue.

This paper explores the role of imports as a mechanism of transmission of international technology spillovers and its significance for the growth of the OECD countries. For this purpose we estimate a version of the growth model proposed by Benhabib and Spiegel (1994), which includes two main modifications in order to better specify the nature of international knowledge diffusion. The first is the inclusion of the R&D capital stock into this framework. The second consist of using a direct measurement of international technology spillovers instead of using per capita GDP gap in respect to the leader country as approach to it. Our results reveal that international technology spillovers transmitted through imports have had a favourable influence on the economic growth of the OECD countries. However, they show the predominant role of the domestic human and R&D capital endowments in economic growth.

Singh’s arguments against the creation of a laissez-faire system governing international flows of foreign direct investment are broadened to recognize the implications for a laissez-faire system of the lesser degree of economic sophistication of host governments in developing countries. Given a close interface between foreign ways of doing business and the benefits of inward FDI, the paper addresses two areas in which government regulation may not be adequate to the tasks imposed: issues of worker and consumer safety; and issues of deliberate exploitation of the host country by executives of the parent company or of the local affiliate.

This article presents the empirical results of an intra-industry trade analysis of the United States fabric industry. The analysis included 92 countries in four Standard Industrialized Trade Classification (SITC) categories that represent the fabric industry. Results indicated that intra-industry trade levels were generally low, and country specific factors such as levels of economic development, levels of market size and trade deficit were negatively associated with intra-industry trade levels, while distance and trade barriers were somewhat positively associated. These results have strong implications for trade analysts, policy makers and fabric manufacturers as this industry is currently undergoing changes.

After intensifying in the 1980s and 1990s, the longstanding dispute between Europe and the United States over government subsidies for the commercial jetliner industry again heated up in 2004. This time, however, the stakes were higher because both nations sued each other at the World Trade Organization over government subsidies paid to their respective commercial jetliner companies. The dispute over subsidies has heightened trade tensions between the United States and Europe, as both companies spar for dominance in the highly competitive industry of commercial aircraft.

This paper provides a sequel to “Boeing-Airbus Subsidy Dispute: An Economic and Trade Perspective,” a paper written by these authors and published in the October-December 2001 issue of Global Economy Quarterly. The initial paper analyzed the trade frictions between Boeing and Airbus regarding governmental subsidies and its implications for the conduct and performance of the two companies in the commercial aircraft industry. This paper extends the analysis by discussing recent developments in the commercial aircraft industry, the subsidy dispute of Boeing and Airbus at the World Trade Organization, and the future health of the commercial jetliner industry.

This paper addresses the question of the social policy harmonization in the European Union. In adopting a common monetary policy, Europe is faced with structural and fiscal concerns, as national growth levels differ. Another possible factor in output shocks are the levels of various social expenditures in the member countries. OECD data on the level of social program expenditures in four EU countries will be compared to fluctuations in GDP growth to identify existing relationships. Significant relationships between independent social expenditure policy and GDP growth shocks suggest structural harmonization as an improvement if Europe is to take full advantage of the common market. However, the effects of expenditure levels may be easier to identify and predict than the dynamic effects of policy change. As the effects of future policy changes are more difficult to ascertain, harmonization may not consistently appear to be a Pareto-optimum solution to asymmetric shocks.

One of the challenges of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) is achieving a balanced sustainable expansion of economic activity conducive to macroeconomic stability and financial sustainability of the EMU. In the paper, we evaluate the EMU policies for their effectiveness of smoothening economic cycles in the aggregate. We discuss the pros and cons of the policies and explore the extent to which the EMU institutional framework is likely to facilitate endurance for responding to potential economic shocks and future challenges of the EMU. The paper reveals that the EMU needs a system of credible coordination of monetary and fiscal policies that address economic goals other than price stability. The extent to which EMU policies allow for structural reforms of labor, capital, and product markets will mark the level of responsiveness of the system to handle potential economic disturbances and asymmetric shocks in the Euro region.

Various studies in the past have examined the effect of foreign direct investment on economic growth of both developed and developing countries. However, research on the influence of foreign direct investment on an expanded conception of socio-economic progress such as human development is absent. In this article, we examine the effect of foreign direct investment on human development (measured by the human development index) for middle and low-income countries for the period from 1975 to 1999 to fill in this lacuna. Regression results of a fixed effects model indicate a positive effect of foreign direct investment on human development for both the groups of countries.