Labor Boundaries and Skills: The Case of Lobbyists
利用美国游说服务的详细数据，研究发现企业倾向于外包需要通用技能的任务，而将企业特定任务交给内部游说者。2010年英国石油漏油事件导致油气企业通用技能需求增加，进而增加了外包游说者的使用。
What are the determinants of in-house employment versus outsourcing in the service sector? I use detailed data on U.S. lobbying services to answer this question. I argue with a series of correlational exercises that firms tend to outsource lobbying tasks that demand a large amount of general skills, whereas they are more likely to assign firm-specific tasks to in-house lobbyists. I provide causal evidence that the need to do tasks that vary in their general skill component leads to a change in outsourcing. Using difference-in-difference estimations, I show that the 2010 British Petroleum oil spill increased the general skills needed by oil and gas firms and that, consequently, their use of lobbyists for hire increased. This paper was accepted by Joshua Gans, business strategy.