@article{Antonietti:7436,
      recid = {7436},
      author = {Antonietti, Roberto and Antonioli, Davide},
      title = {Production Offshoring and the Skill Composition of Italian  Manufacturing Firms:  A Counterfactual Analysis},
      address = {2007},
      number = {834-2016-55514},
      series = {KTHC Nota di Lavoro 97.2007},
      pages = {28},
      year = {2007},
      abstract = {This work explores the effects of cross-border relocation  of production on the skill composition of Italian  manufacturing firms. Its aim is to assess if the firms'  strategy to offshore production activities towards cheap  labor countries determines a bias in the relative  employment of skilled versus unskilled workers. Using a  balanced panel of firm-based data across the period  1995-2003, we test this skill-bias hypothesis by means of a  counterfactual experiment in which we employ a  difference-in-differences propensity score matching  estimator in order to control for selectivity bias without  relying on a specific functional form of the relations of  interest. In line with the literature, our results point to  confirm a general, although weak, skill bias effect of  production offshoring on the labor-force composition of  Italian manufacturing: in particular, we find that firms  farming out production stages in 1998-2000 show an upward  shift in the skill ratio with respect to the counterfactual  of firms not moving their production abroad. However, when  we look at the single components of the skill ratio, we  find that the skill bias effect is primarily driven by a  fall in the employment of production workers, while a weak  or not significant effect is found with respect to the  employment of skilled personnel.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/7436},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.7436},
}