Equilibrium Unemployment with Outsourcing under Labour Market Imperfections

We study the various consequences of and the incentives for outsourcing. We argue that the wage elasticity of labour demand increases as a function of the share of outsourcing, which is a result consistent with existing empirical research. Furthermore, we show that a production mode with a higher proportion of outsourcing activity reduces the negotiated wage in the high-wage country with an imperfectly competitive labour market so that outsourcing reduces equilibrium unemployment. Finally, we characterize the optimal production mode and show that stronger labour market imperfections lead to a production mode with a higher share of outsourcing.