How do endowments determine trade? quantifying the output mix, factor price, and skill-biased technology channels*

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Morrow, Peter M.; Tre, Daniel
• 署名单位: University of Toronto; University of Toronto; Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR)
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1996
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2022.103620
• 发表日期: 2022
• 关键词: Factor-augmenting technology; Skill-biased technology; Heckscher-Ohlin; quantitative model

摘要

Differences in how countries absorb endowments of skilled and unskilled labour can be decomposed into (a) differences in the skewness of output mix towards skill-intensive industries and (b) differences in the skill intensity of each industry. The latter can be decomposed into contributions from cross-country differences in (2a) relative wages and (2b) skill-biased factor-augmenting technologies. To investigate the relative importance of each, we develop a multi-sector Eaton-Kortum model featuring skilled/unskilled labour and factor-augmenting international technology differences. The model is calibrated to WIOD data for 39 countries in 2006. Using a model-based decomposition, we show that the skill-intensity mechanism is much more important than output-mix. Further, differences in skill intensities across countries are explained in similar proportions by the relative-wage mechanism and the technology mechanism. Our results have immediate implications for the impact of endowments and skill-biased technology on output mix, trade in goods, and international differences in skill premia.