摘要：This paper takes a new look at the issue of overseas sourcing of services. In
framework in which comparative advantage is endogenous to agglomeration
economies and factor mobility, the fragmentation of production made possible by
the new communication technologies and low transportation costs allow global
firms (multinational corporations or individual firms active in global networks)
to simultaneously reap the benefit of agglomeration economies in OECD countries
and of low wages prevailing in countries with an ever better educated labour
force like India. Thus, the reduction of employment in some routine tasks in
rich countries in a general equilibrium helps sustain and reinforces employment
in the core competencies in such countries. That is, the loss of some jobs
permits to retain the ‘core competencies’ in the ‘core countries’. The welfare
implications of this analysis are shown to be not as straightforward as in a
neoclassical world.
关键词：Outsourcing; wage inequality; communication costs
