Service Offshoring and Productivity: Evidence from the United States

The practice of sourcing service inputs from overseas suppliers has been growing in response to new technologies that have made it possible to trade in some business and computing services that were previously considered non-tradable. This paper estimates the effects of offshoring on productivity in US manufacturing industries between 1992 and 2000. It finds that service offshoring has a significant positive effect on productivity in the US, accounting for around 10 percent of labor productivity growth during this period. Offshoring material inputs also has a positive effect on productivity, but the magnitude is smaller accounting for approximately 5 percent of productivity growth.

What's behind volatile import prices from China?

In a sharp departure from earlier trends, the price of U.S. imports from China rose 6 percent in the 2006-08 period. To explore the forces behind this surprising increase, the authors create a new import index that uses highly disaggregated data to track price developments in different product types. The index reveals that the largest price increases were concentrated in industrial supplies - goods that rely heavily on commodity inputs. The authors conclude that the surge in commodity prices through mid-2008 was the primary driver of the rising import prices from China.Price indexes ; Imports - Prices ; Commodity exchanges ; Petroleum industry and trade

Economic Geography and Wages

This paper estimates the agglomeration benefits that arise from vertical linkages between firms in the context of Indonesia. The analysis is based on international trade and economic geography theory developed by Krugman and Venables (1995). We identify the agglomeration benefits off the spatial variation in firm level nominal wages. Unusually detailed intermediate input data allow us to more accurately capture spatial input/output linkages than in previous studies. We take account of the location of input suppliers to estimate cost linkages; and the location of demand from final consumers and other firms to estimate demand linkages. The results show that the externalities that arise from demand and cost linkages are quantitatively important and highly localized. An understanding of the extent and strength of spatial linkages is crucial in shaping policies that seek to influence regional development.agglomeration, economic geography, vertical linkages.

Trade and Industrial Location with Heterogeneous Labor

We show in the framework of a new economic geography model that when labor is heterogenous and productivity depends on the quality of the match between job and worker, trade liberalization may lead to industrial agglomeration and inter-industry trade. The agglomeration force is the improvement in the quality of matches when firms recruit from a bigger pool of labor. The forces against agglomeration are the existence of trade costs and monopoly power in the labor market. We show that more heterogeneity in skills attracts both firms and workers to bigger markets and supports agglomeration at higher trade costs.agglomeration, matching, spatial mismatch, inter-regional trade

Trade costs and location of foreign firms in China

The authors examine the determinants of entry by foreign firms using information on 515 Chinese industries at the provincial level during 1998-2001. The analysis, rooted in the new economic geography, focuses on market and supplier access within and outside the province of entry, as well as production and trade costs. The results indicate that market and supplier access are the most important factors affecting foreign entry. Access to markets and suppliers in the province of entry matters more than access to the rest of China, which is consistent with market fragmentation due to underdeveloped transport infrastructure and informal trade barriers.TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Trade and Regional Integration,Access to Markets

Designing an interactive theatre game with dynamic asynchronous play

This project proposes the use of asynchronous narrative mechanics and dynamic elements of gameplay to further the player’s sense of interaction with characters and the environment of the game, inspired by interactive theatre performances such as Sleep No More. The player plants seeds in a garden which is maintained by several Non-Playable Characters, influencing both the environment and the narrative. Scenes occur according to the state of the garden, but do not wait for the player to be present. Plants grow and wilt as time passes. Sometimes the player cedes control as the characters tend to or cut down plants, often blocking access to them. The player struggles with their control over the garden and thus the narrative itself. By removing a level of player control and adding a degree of spontaneity we hope to create an environment in which the player is more dynamically involved

The Importance of Oral Language Proficiency in EFL Online Teaching Setting

English language, as an international language has been used in North Macedonia as a foreign language in schools for a considerable amount of time now. English teachers have tried to convey new ways of teaching this language, furthermore adapting to the main four skills in a meticulous manner. However recently, all of the teachers, were confronted with a worldwide pandemic situation which shaped a different scenario of teaching. A different mechanism that all of the teachers are getting used to, which is online education. The purpose of this study is to analyze how effective was teaching English online for the pupils oral proficiency, whilst communication in English language was limited. Videoconferencing and converting lessons into videos and send them as documented evidence, were two of the main tools mostly used from teachers in schools in Gostivar. The methodology used for this research was qualitative, and it uses two instruments, an observation, and an interview. The overall study results show that, even though pupils showed improvement in EFL (English as a foreign language) oral proficiency, since the materials used to lecture online where persuasive; some students also had difficulties learning autonomously, without depending on the teachers help. Furthermore, according to the interview responses, the appropriate and detailed lesson planning, helps in combining activities which would emphasize speaking more in online teaching classes

SYNCHRONOUS AND ASYNCHRONOUS E-LEARNING

Due to Covid - 19 pandemic, many changes have occurred in education. There were several decisions made from the government, on how students should be taught online; there were two ways of teaching students, asynchronous and synchronous online teaching. The students were obliged to learn from home, so it has been important to know they’re feedback on e-learning. By the research studies where student are participants, it is received a lot of feedback from their experience. Instead the teachers, depending on their ideas and planning on what’s best for students, decided how to teach students from home and assess them too. Furthermore, in this article a number of research papers were reviewed, in order to compare both synchronous and asynchronous e-learning and which one is more beneficial for the students at home. From all the research methods, the ones taken into consideration from the studies were questionnaires, pre- tests, post-tests and surveys. Hence, approximately 50 articles were reviewed, and depending on their content and the correlations with the topic of this review, only 20 studies were chosen that were related to the topic generally. The overall study results show that even though there could be a preference for both e-learning methods, both synchronous and asynchronous e-learning methods if combined right, it could help teachers and learners have a successful course and results. Article visualizations