The effect of low-wage import competition on US inflationary pressure

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Auer, Raphael; Fischer, Andreas M.
• 署名单位: Princeton University; Swiss National Bank (SNB)
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF MONETARY ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3932
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jmoneco.2010.02.007
• 发表日期: 2010
• 页码: 491-503
• 关键词: Low-wage country import competition; comparative advantage; GLOBALIZATION

摘要

The effect of import competition from low-wage countries on U.S. inflationary pressure is estimated using a new methodology that identifies the causal response of prices to comparative advantage-induced supply shocks in these nations. The results of a panel covering 325 manufacturing industries from 1997 to 2006 show that imports from nine low-wage countries are associated with strong downward pressure on prices. When these nations capture a 1% share of the U.S. sector, the sector's producer prices decrease by 2.35%. Because import competition also influences the skewness of the distribution of price changes, it is likely to have impacted U.S. equilibrium inflation. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All Rights reserved.