Offshoring, Matching, and Wage Inequality: Theory and Evidence

30.09.2025 12:30 – 13:30

GENEVA TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP

Jointly with Gueyon Kim and Dohyeon Lee

Abstract:


This paper examines how offshoring affects worker skill demands and studies its implications for wage inequality. Using Danish administrative data, we find that offshoring increases firm-level demand for higher skills in occupations with high exposure to foreign competition. This effect is more pronounced in low-productivity firms, highlighting distributional impacts across firms. By constructing a Becker-type worker-firm matching model in a global economy, we demonstrate underlying mechanisms and quantify the role of offshoring-induced adjustments. Offshoring increases firm similarity in worker skill and wages within high-exposed jobs, leading to a decrease in between-firm inequality – a contrast to the effects of technological change.

Biography: https://sites.google.com/site/pozzolidario79/home

Participants without WTO accreditation must register here by: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/st8df6P7Yn?origin=lprLink COB Friday 26 September. They should go to the Welcome Pavilion where a badge will be delivered against a passport or an official identity card. Please allow yourself extra 20 minutes for completion of security and registration procedures.

Lieu

Bâtiment: Maison de la paix

World Trade Organization
Room B
Rue de Lausanne 154
1202 Genève

entrée libre