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Offshore Outsourcing: How Should Policy Respond?

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I. Outsourcing As Detrimental The U.S. economy has seen many hardships within the last decade. The economy has suffered from a recession that is still threatening to cripple some Americans and unemployment has been at an all time high. People have lost homes and jobs and many businesses have gone bankrupt simply trying to survive. However, in the midst of this economic crisis some companies have managed to survive. Many companies, approximately 36% of them, have found a way to avoid economic collapse by cutting costs (Job Outsourcing Statistics, 2014). One of the most popular cost reducing strategies of our time is called outsourcing. Globalization Outsourcing has quickly became to go-to solution for businesses that wish to reduce costs, …show more content…

Specifically, companies are transferring these services overseas as in the case of call and help center services or companies are ordering manufacturing supplies from overseas at a much cheaper price than they could obtain them inside the U.S. Outsourcing is a term that is often used interchangeably with off shoring (Bhagwati, Panagariya, & Srinivasan, 2004). Competition & Scarcity The debate over outsourcing in the U.S. is controversial among citizens and economists alike. There are many economists who believe that outsourcing is the next, most logical step in a free market economy (Mankiw & Swage, 2006). These economists believe that the market shifts according to supply and demand. An inherent feature of a free market economy is the free competition of goods and services where the goods and/or services go where the demand is the greatest. According to this view, there is a high demand for labor at a reduced cost and there is an almost endless supply of cheap labor overseas. An example of this would be that a call center attendant would be paid anywhere between twenty and twenty-five thousand dollars a year in compensation whereas the same worker in China would be paid approximately five thousand dollars in compensation per year (Mankiw & Swage, 2006). As anyone can see, there is a large difference between U.S. compensation and overseas compensation. These

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