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211. Gains from Offshoring? Evidence from U.S. Microdata

Author:
Ryan Monarch, Jooyoun Park, and Jagadeesh Sivadasan
Publication Date:
11-2014
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
We construct a new linked data set with over one thousand offshoring events by matching Trade Adjustment Assistance program petition data to confidential data on U.S. firm operations. We exploit these data to assess how offshoring affects domestic firm-level aggregate employment, output, wages and productivity. Consistent with heterogenous firm models where offshoring involves a fixed cost, we find that the average offshoring firm is larger and more productive than the average non-offshorer. After initiating offshoring, firms experience large declines in employment (46.2 per cent), output (38.5 per cent) and capital (28.8 per cent) relative to their industry peers. We find no significant change in average wages or in total factor productivity measures for offshoring firms. These results are consistent across two separate difference-in-differences (DID) approaches, an instrumental variables approach, and a number of robustness checks. Thus, we find offshoring to be a strong substitute for domestic activity in this large sample of offshoring events.
Topic:
Industrial Policy, Labor Issues, Manufacturing, Trade, Outsourcing, and Capital
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

212. Chinese Direct Investment in California

Author:
Daniel H. Rosen and Thilo Hanemann
Publication Date:
10-2012
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Asia Society
Abstract:
A new report entitled Chinese Direct Investment in California published by the Asia Society finds that California has attracted more Chinese investment deals than any other U.S. state but remains fifth in the nation in total investment value. Negligible before 2008, Chinese investment in the state is growing at triple-digit levels and could reach $60 billion by 2020, but only if the state and private sector do a better job working together to attract Chinese capital. The report is co-authored by Daniel H. Rosen and Thilo Hanemann of the Rhodium Group and builds on a 2011 Asia Society study, entitled An American Open Door?: Maximizing the Benefits of Chinese Foreign Direct Investment, which looked more broadly at Chinese investment into the U.S. The new report is the most comprehensive study to date of Chinese investment in the Golden State and in the U.S. overall. It finds that the potential gains for California and China are enormous but that success is far from guaranteed. U.S.-China relations remain tense and protectionism is a serious threat. At the state level, California has had a mixed record of promoting its economic strengths. The report urges policy and business leaders in the state to do better to out-compete other states, and nations, that seek to increase their own shares of the Chinese outbound investment surge. Four decades ago, Japanese direct investment in the U.S. was at a similar stage. Now, it totals some $300 billion, employs 700,000 Americans, and undergirds a strong, stable U.S.-Japan relationship. Investment and trade between the U.S. and China show even greater promise today. Compared to the rest of the U.S., the report finds that Chinese investment in California is disproportionately from private rather than state-owned enterprises, greenfield rather than M&As, and strongest in high-tech and high-value services — areas that the Chinese government and private sector have targeted for accelerated growth. Of the $1.3 billion in Chinese investment in the state since 2000, Southern California leads the state in investment with 69 deals totaling $618 million. The San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley/South Bay regions are the second and third most attractive regions for Chinese investors.
Topic:
Foreign Direct Investment, Economy, Business, and Trade
Political Geography:
China, Asia, California, North America, and United States of America

213. The Columbian Exchange and the Reversal of Fortune

Author:
Thomas Grennes
Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Cato Journal
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
It is difficult to think about modern American food without including hamburgers and hotdogs. It is also difficult to think about popular American history without cowboys mounted on horseback tending herds of cattle. However, before the arrival of Columbus in 1492 there were no cattle or pigs in America to provide beef and pork for hamburgers and hotdogs. There was no wheat to make hamburger and hotdog buns. There were no horses for cowboys or Indians to ride. The European settlers brought with them cattle, pigs, horses, wheat, and many other plants and animals that became the foundation for modern food and agriculture in the Western Hemisphere. It is also difficult to think about modern Mexican food without including rice, tacos filled with meat, refried beans in animal fat, cheese in enchiladas, and sugar, cinnamon, and milk in chocolate. However, Mexico in 1492 had none of these ingredients. The massive transplantation of plants and animals across the Atlantic Ocean in both directions has been called the Columbian Exchange (Crosby 1972). It has been described as the “greatest human intervention in nature since the invention of agriculture (Fernandez-Armesto 2002: 165), and it has had an enormous effect on the Americas and the entire world. The Columbian Exchange altered the kind of food Americans and Mexicans eat, the kind of agricultural products produced in both countries, and the entire pattern of world economic growth. This article will concentrate on the effects of the Columbian Exchange, but the exchange of plants and animals was part of a broader process of trade, migration, investment, colonization, and exchange of ideas that followed the voyages of discovery by Columbus and others. The same Old World plants and animals were introduced to the two regions that would become the United States and Mexico, but the effects in the two countries were substantially different.1 The United States was the poorer neighbor in 1492, but it became relatively richer. The purpose of this article is to show how differences in institutional development affected responses to the same opportunities. I shall concentrate on developments in the United States and Mexico, but the Canadian experience was similar to the U.S. response, and the response in the rest of Latin America was similar to the Mexican response (Cole et al. 2005).
Topic:
Migration, History, Food, Investment, Trade, and Columbian Exchange
Political Geography:
North America, Mexico, and United States of America

214. Is Port Security Funding Making Us Safer?

Author:
Veronique de Rugy
Publication Date:
11-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
MIT Center for International Studies
Abstract:
The most terrifying security threat to security experts and the public alike is nuclear proliferation. Once the figment of Hollywood imagination, the ultimate nightmare scenario that is dis- cussed by some as inevitable is the detonation of a nuclear device on American soil. The majority of experts believe that the most likely way weapons of mass destruction (WMD) would enter the United States is by sea, hence a focus on port security.1 Ports offer terrorists vast opportunities to inflict damages. As the primary mode of transpor- tation for world trade goods, maritime commerce is essential to America’s economic vital- ity.2 Every year approximately nine million cargo containers—26,000 a day—arrive at U.S. ports from all over the world.3 The U.S. maritime system includes more than 361 sea and river ports with more than 3,700 cargo and passenger terminals and more than 1,000 harbor channels along thousands of miles of coastline.4 In FY 2007, President Bush requested $2.3 billion for port security out of a $57 billion government-wide budget for homeland security.5 However, the important question is not how much money is spent but rather whether the money is allocated toward the most cost- effective programs. In other words, is America getting the maximum level of protection in exchange for our tax dollars? A close look at port security allocation decisions indicates that spending occurs without regard for risk analysis let alone cost-benefit analysis, leading to a large array of misallocated spending. For instance, what should be the highest priorities—preventing terrorists from acquiring nuclear devices and material—receive less money than much less cost-effective policies such as nuclear detection in the ports or post-disaster response activities.
Topic:
Security, Maritime, Trade, and Port
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

215. U.S.-China Relations: The Case for Economic Liberalism

Author:
James A. Dorn
Publication Date:
10-2006
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Cato Journal
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
In its 2005 Report to Congress, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission—also known as the U.S.-China Commission (USCC)—recommended that China appreciate its currency, the renminbi (RMB), “by at least 25 percent against the U.S. dollar” or face “an immediate, across-the-board tariff on Chinese imports.” The commission argued that such an action could be justified under Article XXI of the World Trade Organization (WTO), “which allows members to take necessary actions to protect their national security.” The key idea behind the commission’s protectionist policy stance is that “China’s undervalued currency has contributed to a loss of U.S. manufacturing, which is a national security concern” (USCC 2005: 14).
Topic:
Bilateral Relations, Economy, Trade, and Liberalism
Political Geography:
China, Asia, North America, and United States of America

216. Treaty Compliance: Lessons from the Softwood Lumber Case

Author:
Jeff Colgan
Publication Date:
05-2006
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA)
Institution:
School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
Abstract:
The Canada-U.S. dispute over softwood lumber imports provides an important case in understanding issues of international bargaining and treaty compliance. Recent events in the dispute suggest that one of the leading theoretical accounts of treaty compliance does not offer an adequate explanation of state behavior. Policy makers should recognize the importance of cross-border ownership and industry interdependence for the implementation of, and compliance with, international trade agreements. The softwood lumber dispute adds credence to the perspective, often advocated by realists, that treaty compliance will only occur when it is in a nation’s material interests to do so.
Topic:
Treaties and Agreements, Trade, Imports, and Disputes
Political Geography:
Canada, North America, and United States of America

217. Reforming the Cotton Trade Order? An Analysis of Cotton Subsidies and Implications for Sustainable Development

Author:
Christine M. Makori
Publication Date:
05-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA)
Institution:
School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
Abstract:
Cotton is the most widely produced cash crop in the developing world. It supports the livelihoods of numerous households in these countries and occupies a significant position both economically and politically. However, in the recent past, this sector has experienced a pricing crisis mainly attributed to subsidies of developed nations. This article analyzes the effects of cotton subsidies (the most controversial agricultural commodity in the ongoing trade negotiations) on sustainable development, focusing on the impacts of U.S. subsidies on four West African countries. Given that these support systems have political motivations, the article briefly surveys political challenges to subsidy reforms. In conclusion, the article makes specific recommendations to the WTO and national governments to promote free trade, enhance economic efficiency, and support the global fight against poverty.
Topic:
Sustainable Development Goals, Trade, WTO, Subsidies, and Cotton
Political Geography:
Africa, West Africa, and United States of America

218. Latin America and the Second Clinton Administration

Author:
Mark Falcoff
Publication Date:
02-1997
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
Presidents of the United States are elected to govern the American people, not the Latin American republics. Consequently, one should be neither surprised nor particularly troubled by the fact that many of our chief executives have failed to elicit much enthusiasm south of the border. Indeed, given the genuine differences of national self-interest, we would have ample reason to worry were it otherwise. Even so, one cannot help noticing how very unpopular the first Clinton administration has been in Latin America and with what trepidation most of the republics face the prospects of a second four years.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Economics, Trade, and Bill Clinton
Political Geography:
Latin America and United States of America