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Straydog snip which means that 70% of those offshoring have had reasonable success. That doesn't mean failure because it is 70% of a huge amt of work being offshored...
The idea of comparative advantage, and of paying someone else to do work if they can do it more cheaply than you, and that this will in the long run improve your own economy --- these ideas have been around a long long time, they are not recent fashion. I think there is a real historical perspective lacking in most discussions about offshoring. Exactly the same arguments were made about automation: replacing men with machines. The negative arguments were always that automation (a) increased unemployment, (b) benefited only the selfish-greedy executives who are theives and crooks, and (c) would lead to the general impoverishment of the average American, who would see their paychecks diminsh as factory owners became increasingly rich. Economists countered that automation led to a higher standard of living because (1) goods would be cheaper to purchase and (2) more efficient industries would create more new jobs than they destroyed.
Straydog Er -we are talking of 2 different things. Im saying comparative advantage has been proven right for...
I would think that 200 years of industrialization and automation would have convinced people that making businesses more efficient, and replacing jobs with lower-cost machines (or offshore workers), indeed does improve the standard of living for everyone in the long run. Look at how automation has dramatically lowered the cost of living. There was a time when presidential candidates ran on the slogan "a chicken in every pot". Who today can't buy a chicken? How is it that today the average American can afford an automobile, when at one time it was something that only the rich could buy? Any glance at the historical record suggests that replacing Americans with cheaper machines has been a good thing for the average American. So why is replacing Americans with cheaper offshore workers not?
I also think offshoring has the additional advantage in that the money spent is going to poorer countries, rather than a machine maker. I don't know about you, but I grew up sick and tired of hearing about people starving to rest in India and other 3rd world countries. I wouldn't mind seeing a modern India with an educated and employed middle clbutt.
On Fri, 28 Jul 2005, Kamal R. Prasad ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ You did not cite your reference for this...
But who cares what we think. As Kamal says, it will happen anyway -- it is like trying to stop water from running downhill.
- Smith