The Impact of International Trade on Wages

The Impact of International Trade on Wages PDF Author: Robert C. Feenstra
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226239640
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Book Description
Since the early 1980s, the U.S. economy has experienced a growing wage differential: high-skilled workers have claimed an increasing share of available income, while low-skilled workers have seen an absolute decline in real wages. How and why this disparity has arisen is a matter of ongoing debate among policymakers and economists. Two competing theories have emerged to explain this phenomenon, one focusing on international trade and labor market globalization as the driving force behind the devaluation of low-skill jobs, and the other focusing on the role of technological change as a catalyst for the escalation of high-skill wages. This collection brings together innovative new ideas and data sources in order to provide more satisfying alternatives to the trade versus technology debate and to assess directly the specific impact of international trade on U.S. wages. This timely volume offers a thorough appraisal of the wage distribution predicament, examining the continued effects of technology and globalization on the labor market.

The Impact of International Trade on Wages

The Impact of International Trade on Wages PDF Author: Robert C. Feenstra
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226239640
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 420

Get Book Here

Book Description
Since the early 1980s, the U.S. economy has experienced a growing wage differential: high-skilled workers have claimed an increasing share of available income, while low-skilled workers have seen an absolute decline in real wages. How and why this disparity has arisen is a matter of ongoing debate among policymakers and economists. Two competing theories have emerged to explain this phenomenon, one focusing on international trade and labor market globalization as the driving force behind the devaluation of low-skill jobs, and the other focusing on the role of technological change as a catalyst for the escalation of high-skill wages. This collection brings together innovative new ideas and data sources in order to provide more satisfying alternatives to the trade versus technology debate and to assess directly the specific impact of international trade on U.S. wages. This timely volume offers a thorough appraisal of the wage distribution predicament, examining the continued effects of technology and globalization on the labor market.

Quantifying the Impact of Tradeon Wages

Quantifying the Impact of Tradeon Wages PDF Author: Stephen Tokarick
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 38

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Book Description
This paper uses an applied general equilbrium model to decompose the effects of changes in trade and technology-related variables on wages of skilled and unskilled labor between 1982 and 1996 in the United States. The results indicate that trade-related variables (tariff cuts, improvement in the terms of trade, and the increase in the trade deficit) had little impact on the widening wage gap. Also, changes in total factor productivity had a small effect on relative wages. The major factor behind the rise in the skilled wage relative to the unskilled wage was differential rates of growth in skill-biased technical change across sectors. The paper also highlights the role that nontraded goods play in explaining the wage gap. Finally, the paper presents estimates of the effect of trade on wages by calculating what wage rates would be under autarky. The results show that expanding trade could actually reduce wage inequality, rather than increase it. The welfare costs to the U.S economy of moving to autarky (using 1996 as a base) are about 6 percent of GDP.

The Impact of Tradeon Wages

The Impact of Tradeon Wages PDF Author: Mika Saito
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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Book Description
This paper explores the effect of trade on the relative wage of less-skilled labor through its effect on world prices, which are typically exogenously given under the small open economy assumption. Using the 1995 international input-output data for APEC member countries, we numerically simulate a general equilibrium model to study the effects of abolishing existing tariffs under the assumption that each member country is large enough to affect the prices of goods and services produced in the region. We find that the responsiveness of prices plays an important role in easing a possible adverse effect of trade on relative wages.

The Impact of Trade on United States Employment

The Impact of Trade on United States Employment PDF Author: Catherine Sveikauskas
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429681089
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
First published in 1995. Over the last several decades there has been much concern that international trade has been destroying "good" jobs in the United States. This book provides a thorough empirical examination of this issue, focussing on the years when large, continuous deficits began. The analysis examines occupational employment data for 118 occupations in 156 different industries, and will be of interest to both students of business and economics and policy makers.

Quantifying the Impact of Trade on Wages

Quantifying the Impact of Trade on Wages PDF Author: Stephen Tokarick
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This paper uses an applied general-equilbrium model to decompose the effects of changes in trade- and technology-related variables between 1982 and 1996 in the United States on the wages of skilled and unskilled labor. The results indicate that trade-related variables (tariff cuts, improvement in the terms of trade, and the increase in the trade deficit) had little impact on the widening wage gap. The major factor behind the rise in the skilled wage relative to the unskilled wage was differential rates of growth in skill-biased technical change across sectors. The paper also highlights the role that nontraded goods play in explaining the wage gap. Finally, the paper presents estimates of how wages would change if the economy moved to autarky. The results show that expanding trade could actually reduce wage inequality, rather than increase it.

Quantifying the Impact of Trade on Wages: The Role of Nontraded Goods

Quantifying the Impact of Trade on Wages: The Role of Nontraded Goods PDF Author: Stephen P. Tokarick
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 31

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Book Description


Sticky Feet

Sticky Feet PDF Author: Claire H. Hollweg
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464802637
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 123

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Book Description
This report quantifies labor mobility costs in developing countries and simulates the implied adjustment paths of employment and wages following a change in trade policy. High mobility costs are shown to reduce the potential gains to trade reform.

Sticky Feet

Sticky Feet PDF Author: Claire H. Hollweg
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464802645
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 123

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Book Description
The analysis in this report confirms the findings of previous studies that trade liberalization improves aggregate welfare and is in the long run associated with higher employment and wages. The analysis addresses a major gap in the literature, which has heretofore provided limited evidence about the trade-related adjustment costs faced by workers in developing countries and how they are affected by mobility costs. Labor market frictions reduce the potential gains from trade reform. For a tariff reduction in a given sector, the resulting change in relative prices raises real wages in some sectors and reduces them in the liberalized sector. The emerging wage gaps lead to labor reallocation. But workers typically incur costs to change jobs; the higher the mobility costs, the slower the transition to the new labor market steady state. Workers’ sticky feet result in foregone welfare gains from trade. This report presents an estimation strategy for capturing mobility costs when only net flows of workers between industries are observed, generating cross-country estimates for 47 developed and developing countries. The basic analytical approach is then refined to take advantage of micro-level data on worker transitions and wages when gross flows can be observed to derive mobility cost estimates that account for sector and formality status. These cost estimates are used to model the dynamic paths of labor reallocation between sectors and in and out of the labor force, the associated wage paths, and the resulting labor adjustment costs. The main findings of the report are that: labor mobility costs in developing countries are high; foregone trade gains due to frictions in labor mobility can also be substantial; workers bear the brunt of adjustment costs; mobility costs and labor market adjustments to trade-related shocks vary by industry, firm type, and worker type; entry costs are significantly higher for formal than for informal employment; trade reforms increase economy-wide wages and employment; and workers displaced by plant closings are likely to face relatively long adjustment periods. The findings provide insights that could be helpful to policymakers hoping to mitigate negative short-term consequences of trade liberalization and facilitate labor adjustment.

Two Tales on the Returns to Education

Two Tales on the Returns to Education PDF Author: Edinaldo Tebaldi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This paper uses micro data from the Current Population Survey combined with data from the US International Trade Commission and Bureau of Economic Analysis to evaluate the impacts of international trade (import penetration and export intensiveness) on wages with a special focus on the returns to education. Consistent with the literature, our empirical analysis provides evidence that the wage rates of similarly skilled workers differ across net-exporting, net-importing, and nontradable industries. Our results add to the literature by showing that the wage gap usually found across importing and exporting industries vanishes for highly skilled workers (workers with college degree and beyond) when we control for the cross-effect between international trade and education, but the wage gap due to international trade still persists for low-skilled workers. This finding supports the view that education serves as an equalizer and counterbalances the adverse impact from import penetration on wages of highly skilled workers.

Trade and Inequality

Trade and Inequality PDF Author: Pinelopi K. Goldberg
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 9781783479474
Category : Balance of trade
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This research review brings together the most influential theoretical and empirical contributions to the topic of trade and inequality from recent years. Segregating the subject into four key areas, it forms a comprehensive study of the subject, targeted at academic readers familiar with the main trade models and empirical methods used in economics. The first two parts cover empirical evidence on trade and inequality in developed and developing countries, while the third and fourth sections confront transition dynamics following trade liberalization and new theoretical contributions inspired by the previously-discussed empirical evidence, respectively. Presented with an extensive original introduction by the editor, Trade and Inequality will be an invaluable tool in the study of this field to advanced undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty alike.