Japan and her dealings with offshoring: An empirical analysis with aggregate data

First moves towards a real understanding of the offshoring phenomenon date back to very recent times, with employment and productivity effects occupying much of the literature around the subject. In particular for Japan, the studies conducted so far focus on the disaggregate level and put the stress on the productivity side alone. Here I carry out both the analyses of the employment and productivity effects at the aggregate level of the industry, covering the years 1980-2005. Moreover, I consider all industries within the economy and take account of both materials and services offshoring. The results presented here suggest that we can expect a positive effect of services offshoring on employment, and a positive effect of materials offshoring on the growth rate of productivity.