The New International Division of Labour
Background:
Patterns of production in the world economy are changing rapidly. These changes are driven by a combination of trade liberalisation, technical change and economic reforms. This series of projects focuses on two particular aspects of the ongoing globalisation process: (i) Falling transaction costs as a result of ICT; (ii) The exceedingly fast export growth of some developing countries (particularly China and India) and considers their impact on the location of economic activities in the 21st century. To examine these issues we intend to build on our team's recent research work on heterogenous firms, firm level data and economic geography to examine firm and regional responses to these two aspects of globalisation. The first project will consider the role of ICT in firm's outsourcing decisions and the impact outsourcing will have on the international division of labour. A second project, focuses on a different aspect of firm's responses - specifically decisions about which products to produce and which production techniques to use. The third project will consider the impact on personal and regional inequalities in the 'North'. This project will draw on the work on outsourcing and product choice, but will also consider the extent to which affected industries are spatially concentrated. A fourth project also considers spatial issues, but this time focused on the fact that fast growth in output and exports from developing countries often goes hand in hand with increased spatial concentration in a number of dominant cities. This raises a number of important questions about the links between globalisation and the function of developing country urban systems.
Researchers:
Dr Henry Overman
Dr Stephen Redding
Dr Frédéric Robert-Nicoud
Prof Anthony Venables
London School of Economics
Contact:
Dr Henry Overman
Department of Geography
London School of Economics & Political Science
Houghton Street
London
WC2A 2AE
Tel: 020 7955 7412
email: h.g.overman@lse.ac.uk
Duration of Research:
June 2006 - May 2008