International Economics Commons^™

O¤Shoring, Unemployment, And Welfare With Risk Averse Workers, Priya Ranjan

Priya Ranjan

This paper studies the welfare and policy implications of offshoring when risk averse workers face the risk of unemployment. If offshored inputs can be easily substituted for domestic workers, then offshoring reduces wages and increases unemployment. In this situation, in the absence of any government intervention offshoring not only reduces the welfare of workers but could reduce aggregate welfare as well if workers are highly risk averse and the markets for insurance against unemployment risk are missing. In addition to unemployment insurance, the role of employment protection policies- severance payments and administrative cost of firing -in protecting workers against the …