We explore the relationship between proximity of buyers and sellers and the organizational form of outsourcing …. Outsourcing can be "contractual" in which suppliers undertake specific investments or involve "generic" market transactions …

While outsourcing of production from the U.S. to Mexico has been hailed in Mexico as a valuable engine of growth … literature to study the second moment properties of outsourcing. We begin by documenting a new stylized fact: the maquiladora … outsourcing industries in Mexico experience fluctuations in value added that are roughly twice as volatile as the corresponding …

International outsourcing to lower cost countries such as China and India can best be understood through the enrichment … insights into the forces driving international outsourcing. The paper focuses on relationship-specific investment, incomplete … contracts, and also search and matching, as fundamental concepts that explain outsourcing decisions …