| Summary/Abstract |
Using detailed Chinese manufacturing firm production and trade data from 2000 to 2006, this study finds that offshoring significantly increases firms’ average wages. First, using the quasi-natural experiment of China's accession to the World Trade Organization, we investigate how a reduction in offshoring costs affects the manufacturing firm's wages and find that a productivity effect and a job-relocation effect are two possible channels. Second, the dynamic decomposition of industry-level wages indicates that the within-firm effect is 0.547, accounting for 31.5 percent of the total variation. Finally, a Mincer-type regression shows that offshoring also increases within-firm skill premiums. Our findings have strong implications for the government related to framing appropriate industrial policies to raise wages and reduce income inequality.
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