Economics and Social Sciences

The aim of this paper is to empirically evaluate the relative effects of international outsourcing of materials and services and of ICT capital deepening on wage inequality between blue and white collars in the Italian manufacturing industry during the period 1985 − 1999. We merge an administrative data set on workers' wages and individual characteristics with data on imported inputs from Italian input-output tables and other sector-level variables. Results show that international outsourcing plays an important role in shaping the observed pattern in the wage gap, both in traditional and innovative industries, while the role of technological change is less pronounced and limited to innovative sectors JEL Class.: F16, J31, C23, O3

This paper estimates the effect of international outsourcing of materials and services on productivity in Italian manufacturing sectors during the period 1985-1997. Three different measures of outsourcing are used. Firstly, a narrow measure of outsourcing is calculated as the bulk of intermediate inputs that each sector imports from the same sector abroad. Secondly, a broad measure of outsourcing of materials is calculated as the sum of materials imported from non-energy manufacturing sectors abroad. Finally, outsourcing of services is measured as total business and financial services imported from abroad. Outsourcing is modelled as to affect TFP and results suggest a general positive effect of outsourcing of materials. The effect of outsourcing of services seems to be ambiguous: it is positive for the traditional sectors and negative for more advanced ones. [email protected]. I am particularly indebted with Alberto Russo and Francesco Venturini for useful comments and suggestions.

We study the relationship between offshoring and job stability in Italy in the period 1995-2001 by using an administrative dataset on manufacturing workers. We find that the international fragmentation of production negatively affects job stability. Service offshoring and material purchases from developed countries foster job-to-job transitions within manufacturing of all workers and white collars, respectively. However, the most detrimental effects for job stability come from material offshoring to low income countries which drives blue collar workers out of manufacturing. Therefore, policy interventions should especially focus on this latter category of workers more exposed to fragmentation processes and foreign competition.

The aim of this paper is to empirically evaluate the relative effects of international outsourcing of materials and services and of ICT capital deepening on wage inequality between blue and white collars in the Italian manufacturing industry during the period 1985-1999. We merge an administrative data set on workers' wages and individual characteristics with data on imported inputs from Italian input-output tables and other sector-level variables. Our results confirm that both material and service outsourcing widen the skilled/unskilled wage gap while ICT capital deepening positively affects real wages regardless of the worker's status. However, important differences emerge when the overall sample is split between traditional and innovative sectors. JELF16; J31; C23; O3

We provide evidence on backward linkages between downstream manufacturing sectors and the export performance of Italian business service firms. Combining input-output coefficients from the National Accounts with regionlevel information on the international involvement and market thickness of downstream manufacturing sectors, we build some measures of local spillovers and we test them as determinants of the business service firms' export status. Our results show that the export activity of downstream manufacturing sectors is positively related to the services firms' probability of exporting to the same foreign market. Also downstream market thickness bears the same positive effect, even if the latter turns to be non-significant for KIBS sectors. Finally, our evidence confirms that the scope of export spillovers is essentially local. JEL Class.: L80, L25, F14, D22

The aim of this paper is to empirically evaluate the relative effects of international outsourcing of materials and services and of ICT capital deepening on wage inequality between blue and white collars in the Italian manufacturing industry during the period 1985-1999. We merge an administrative data set on workers' wages and individual characteristics with data on imported inputs from Italian input-output tables and other sector-level variables. Our results confirm that both material and service outsourcing widen the skilled/unskilled wage gap while ICT capital deepening positively affects real wages regardless of the worker's status. However, important differences emerge when the overall sample is split between traditional and innovative sectors. JELF16; J31; C23; O3

A production-theory approach to migration is adopted in this paper to address the role of migrant workers from extra-EU countries in Italian manufacturing production at the firm-level. The use of flexible functional forms to model firm-level technology lets us directly derive different measures of elasticity from the coefficients of the estimated production and cost functions.

The aim of this paper is to empirically evaluate the impact of international outsourcing of materials and services and of R&D expenditures on wages of skilled and unskilled workers in Italian industry during the period 1985 − 1997, merging an administrative data set on workers' wages with data on imported inputs from Italian input-output tables and from OECD data on R&D .Our results suggest that R&D intensity has a (negligible) positive impact on real wages, while the fragmentation of production is responsible for increasing wage disparities, because it lowers the wages of Blue Collars, leaving unchanged or raising the remunerations of White Collars. Marche 1 Financial support of MIUR 2005 is gratefully acknowledged. We thank ISFOL for the provision of data and R. Lucchetti and M. Picchio for useful suggestions. The usual disclaimers apply.

This study aims at evaluating the relation between South-South trade agreements, location of production and inequality in Latin American RTAs. Following Sanguinetti et al. and , an empirical model will be estimated to check whether industry localization was affected by the agreement. An ending section will then evaluate the overall impact of trade agreements on σ -convergence, i.e. the standard deviation of income levels of countries belonging to the same agreement.

We analyse the consequences of trade integration in Europe (1995–2005) detecting how the labour costs in partner countries affect the domestic demand for high- and low-skilled labour in ‘Old’ (EU-15) and five ‘New’ EU member states. In general, independently of the skill level of workers, the results suggest complementarity between domestic and foreign labour. However, when we take into account the typology of sectors, the demand for the high skilled in low skill intensive sectors in ‘New’ EU members is boosted by the increase of the average labour cost in ‘Old’ EU members. Thus in low skill intensive sectors, the high skilled in ‘New’ member countries can substitute for employment in EU-15 countries.

This paper proposes an empirical assessment of economic interactions between the labour markets of the integrating EU over the period of time 1995-2005. Drawing on recently made available industry statistics, we provide a sector level study (13 tradable sectors, including manufacturing and services), analysing the contemporary evolution of domestic and trade partners' employment levels. Given the intensification of trade relations as a result of ongoing integration process, we build a sector-specific measure of economic interdependency, based on information on labour markets' performance and weighted by the magnitude of intra-EU trade flows (imports). The estimates of a dynamic empirical model confirm the interactions between employment levels in different Member States. Domestic employment in NMS-5 is rather positively affected by the expansion of labour markets in other EU's trade partners (domestic employment levels in NMS-5 countries improve in parallel to the increase in foreign tradable sectors' employment). The opposite holds true for EU-15 domestic labour markets that are rather challenged by the expansion of tradable sectors in their EU trade partners.

We propose a study on the interdependence between 'Old' and 'New' member states, focusing on the labor markets of the enlarged EU over the period 1995-2005. Increased accessibility of detailed sector level labor statistics allows us to shed some new light on the interactions between EU-15 and NMS-5 skill structures and employment levels. We consider trade based linkages and interaction mechanisms across 13 sectors. We focus on the relation between domestic high and low skill employment and foreign wage conditions regarding the two categories of workers. There are signs of possible substitution effects if we consider the relations between domestic EU-15 labor and labor force in 'New' partner countries. In general, low skilled workers seem to be more exposed to the foreign competition in the EU. However, the type of interaction between EU-15 and NMS-5 labor markets depends on the skill level of workers, typology of sectors and the intensity of trade relations with the 'New' countries.