Offshoring Bites

Alan S. Blinder is one of the most prominent macro minds out alive today. Blinder is a Princeton University economist, a former Federal Reserve Board vice chairman and a prolific author. Like most economists Professor Blinder is a strong proponent of the benefits of free trade based on the principal of comparative advantage.

Blinder has recently been studying the effects of the integration, technology, and information across national borders. He is predicting that many highly skilled, professional occupations will soon be subject to outsourcing. He has concluded that up to 40 million jobs are at risk of being offshored in the next ten to twenty years. The outsourcing of services will make it easier for owners of capital in the U.S. to gain from globalization even if many American workers do not.

Professor Blinder maintains that the loss of information services jobs will cause a growing domestic political reaction against globalization. The effect of easier information flows on U.S. jobs is a worthwhile topic for the Discussion Board.

Click here for an article in the Online Wall Street Journal outlining Professor Blinder's research, or hear Professor Blinder speak for himself on the University Channel.

Extra Credit: Which country is the largest trading partner of the United States? Cite your source. If you are the first student to send me an e-mail (kwoodward@saddleback.edu) with the answers, you will be rewarded with two extra credit Discussion Board points. Only one blog extra credit question per student can be answered in any given week for Discussion Board extra credit.