Political View: Is Outsourcing Good or
Bad for the US Economy?
Before taking this course, students likely had a perception about the effects of outsourcing on
the US economy. These perceptions are formed by public discourse in the media, including
television, print, and online.
The task for your group is to help general managers make sense of the public
discourse on outsourcing.
Your presentation aims to answer these questions:
In the United States, what is the public discourse on outsourcing?
What does the evidence suggest about the effects of outsourcing on the US economy?
Public Discourse on Outsourcing
The public does not seem to differentiate between outsourcing and offshoring. Your group
might highlight some of these examples, such as President Barack Obama calling Mitt’s
Romney “CEO of Outsourcing”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wAHHdj1-YQ (Obama’s Attack)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnFbuqTdVG0 (Romney’s Response)
The public discourse also focuses only jobs lost—you might show magazine covers or
political cartoons that illustrates that the public discourse rarely focuses on the benefits of
outsourcing—lower prices, higher productivity, etc.
Evidence on Outsourcing
Your group should research the macroeconomic effects of outsourcing on the American
economy. An informed analysis will look not only at jobs lost, but jobs created, productivity,
and consumer prices. Your group should come up with an overall message, based on a
balanced assessment of good research that answers the question: Is outsourcing good or
bad for the US economy.
Your group still needs to interview relevant people on this topic. You may be creative—you
might try to interview an academic expert (not me though!), a person running for political
office, a business person that is informed about global sourcing.
You might also design and administer a survey to a range of people to assess their opinions
as to whether outsourcing is good or bad for the US economy. If you gather good
demographic data, you might find differences based on age, political party affiliation, or
educational background. If you pursue this option, let me see your survey before you send it
out.
If you have other creative ideas, please feel free to discuss them with me.
Academic articles on your topic (also posted for you in mygateway):
Lacity, M., and Rudramuniyaiah, P. (2009), "Funny Business: Public Opinion of Outsourcing and Offshoring as
Reflected in U.S. and Indian Political Cartoons," Communications of the Association for Information Systems
(CAIS), Vol. 24, Article 13, pp. 199-224.
Mankiw, N. G., and P. Swagel. (2006). “The Politics and Economics of Offshore Outsourcing,” Journal of
Monetary
Economics, Vol. 53, pp. 1027-1056.
Ottaviano, G. and Wright G. (2012), “Immigration, Offshoring and American Jobs” CEP Discussion Paper No
1147