Migration och företagens internationalisering – en kunskapsöversikt

PublicationReports

Andreas Hatzigeorgiou, Företagandets villkor, Internationalisering, Magnus Lodefalk, Migration, Utrikeshandel

Abstract

Andreas Hatzigeorgiou, forskare vid Ratio samt chefekonom vid Stockholms Handelskammare och Magnus Lodefalk, forskare vid Handelshögskolan vid Örebro universitet har författat rapporten Migration och företagens internationalisering – en kunskapsöversikt för Delegationen för migrationsstudier (Delmi).

Utdrag: Forskningen på området tyder på att migranter sätter avtryck genom sin kunskap om utlandsmarknader och sina kontakter och nätverk. En procents ökning av antalet migranter är sammankopplad med 0,1–0,2 procents mer utrikeshandel i genomsnitt – ett ingalunda betydelselöst ekonomiskt värde. Kopplingen till utländska direktinvesteringar är ännu starkare.1 Undersökningar tyder på att företag ökar sin export med 1–3 procent för varje ytterligare utlandsfödd person som anställs. Om företag främst handlar med komplexa produkter kan exporten öka mer än så. Migranter tycks vara särskilt förknippade med tjänstehandel och offshoring. Handeln främjas mer om deras ursprungsländer kännetecknas av låg ekonomisk utveckling, har en annorlunda kultur eller lider av svaga institutioner. Utbildade migranter främjar handeln allra mest.

Hatzigeorgiou, A. & Lodefalk, M. (2015). Migration och företagens internationalisering – en kunskapsöversikt. Delmi 2015:4.

Immigrant employment and the contract enforcement costs of offshoring

Article (with peer review)Publication

Hatzigeorgiou, A., Karpaty, P., Kneller, R., & Lodefalk, M.

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Publication year

2024

Published in

Review of World Economics, 1-29.

Abstract

Offshoring continues to be an important dimension of firms’ internationalization choices. However, offshoring also increases contract enforcement costs by inhibiting the coordination and monitoring of performance. Immigrant employees may reduce such costs through their specific knowledge of the employer, their country of birth and access to foreign networks. In this paper, we investigate the role of immigrant employees within firms on firm offshoring, employing rich administrative Swedish microlevel data that include specific information about the characteristics of employees, manufacturing firms and their bilateral offshoring. Our results support the hypothesis that immigrant employees increase offshoring by lowering contract enforcement costs. Hiring one additional immigrant employee is linked to a relatively larger increase in offshoring at the intensive than the extensive margin, on average. The association to offshoring is considerably stronger for skilled immigrant employees and for contract and R&D intensive offshoring. Instrumental variable estimations demonstrate qualitatively similar results, while a placebo test with randomized immigrant employment does not generate any link between immigrants and offshoring.

Ratio Working Paper No. 377: Artificial Intelligence and Worker Stress: Evidence from Germany

Working paperPublication

Koch, M., & Lodefalk, M.

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Publication year

2024

Published in

Ratio Working Paper Series.

Abstract

We use individual survey data providing detailed information on stress, technology adoption, and work, worker, and employer characteristics, in combination with recent measures of AI and robot exposure, to investigate how new technologies affect worker stress. We find a persistent negative relationship, suggesting that AI and robots could reduce the stress level of workers. We furthermore provide evidence on potential mechanisms to explain our findings. Overall, the results provide suggestive evidence of modern technologies changing the way we perform our work in a way that reduces stress and work pressure.

Economic Determinants of Attitudes Toward Migration: Firm-level Evidence from Europe

Article (with peer review)Publication

Baccini, L., Lodefalk, M., & Sabolová, R.

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Publication year

2024

Published in

International Organization, 1-36.

Abstract

What are the distributional consequences of migration, and how do they affect attitudes toward migration? In this paper we leverage a natural experiment generated by the ousting of former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, which created an unprecedented influx of economic migrants from African countries to Europe. This surge of low-skilled labor benefited low-productivity firms by lowering their production costs and expanding their labor supply. Employing a triple difference-in-differences design, we document that attitudes toward migration became more positive in Western European regions with large shares of migrants and low-productivity firms. Evidence from Sweden, which provides finely grained geographical data, confirms these findings. We then test the economic microfoundations of this attitudinal shift. We show that the surge in the supply of low-skilled labor increased the profitability of low-productivity firms more in areas that experienced larger migration flows. We find no evidence that migration worsened natives’ labor market conditions.

Abstract

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