Empirical Evaluation of Foreign Outsourcing Decisions and Trends in Vertical Specialization

国外外包决策和垂直专业化趋势的实证评估

• 批准号: 0116829
• 负责人: Deborah Swenson
• 金额: $ 7.51万
• 依托单位: National Bureau of Economic Research Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-07-15 至 2004-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0116829&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Empirical; Evaluation; Foreign; Outsourcing; Decisions

One of the most notable trends in international trade is the growth of vertical specialization. Thanks to reduced costs of international communications and transportation, firms have increasingly fragmented their production into multiple stages. Such production means that a single final good may be worked on in many countries, as each sequential production stage is performed in the location that is most advantageous for the process. By studying two U.S. programs that facilitate foreign outsourcing operations- the 9802 tariff provisions in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States and the U.S. Foreign Trade Zones Program- this research project deepens our understanding of trends in vertical specialization and the responses of foreign outsourcing to changes in country and industry conditions. To evaluate the effects of country costs on outsourcing decisions, this project studies three questions. The first component of the project studies how outsourcing is allocated across countries. In examining this topic, it is important to identify which countries are regarded as competitors. In contrast with previous work that has assumed that all countries are in competition with all others, this analysis will examine whether factors such as geography, education, income, or other national characteristics place countries in competition with each other. The second part of this project examines whether foreign investment plays a special role in mediating firm production sharing decisions. Such a role may be expected, as foreign investment provides a physical infrastructure of manufacturing sites that are tailored to foreign assembly. In addition, foreign investments may influence sourcing decisions, as foreign investment provides a conduit for information about country characteristics. The third component of the project studies how firms decide whether to deploy resources, either keeping production at home or moving it abroad.

国际贸易中最显著的趋势之一是垂直专业化的增长。 由于国际通信和运输成本的降低，公司的生产越来越分散，分成多个阶段。 这种生产意味着一个最终产品可以在许多国家加工，因为每个连续的生产阶段都是在对该过程最有利的地点进行的。本研究通过对美国协调关税表中的9802关税条款和美国对外贸易区计划这两个促进对外外包的项目进行研究，加深了对垂直专业化趋势和对外外包对国家和产业条件变化的反应的理解。 为了评估国家成本对外包决策的影响，本项目研究了三个问题。 该项目的第一个组成部分研究如何在各国之间分配外包。 在审查这一专题时，必须确定哪些国家被视为竞争者。以前的研究假设所有国家都在与其他国家竞争，与此相反，本分析将研究地理、教育、收入或其他国家特征等因素是否会使国家之间相互竞争。 本项目的第二部分考察了外国投资是否在企业生产分享决策中起着特殊的中介作用。 这种作用是可以预期的，因为外国投资提供了专门为外国装配而设的制造地点的有形基础设施。 此外，外国投资可能影响采购决定，因为外国投资提供了了解国家特点的渠道。 该项目的第三个组成部分研究企业如何决定是否部署资源，要么将生产留在国内，要么将其转移到国外。