Unobservable skill dispersion and comparative advantage

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bombardini, Matilde; Gallipoli, Giovanni; Pupato, German
• 署名单位: University of British Columbia; Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR); National Bureau of Economic Research; Toronto Metropolitan University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1996
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2013.11.005
• 发表日期: 2014
• 页码: 317-329
• 关键词: Substitutability; skill dispersion; Skill distribution

摘要

This paper investigates a theoretical mechanism linking comparative advantage to the distribution of skills in the working population. We develop a tractable multi-country, multi-industry model of trade with unobservable skills in the labour market and show that comparative advantage derives from (i) cross-industry differences in the substitutability of workers' skills and (ii) cross-country differences in the dispersion of skills. We establish the conditions under which higher skill dispersion leads to specialization in industries characterized by higher skill substitutability across tasks. The main results are robust when the model is extended to allow for partial observability of skills. Finally, we use distributions of literacy scores from the International Adult Literacy Survey to approximate cross-country productivity differences due to skill dispersion and we carry out a quantitative assessment of the impact of skill dispersion on the pattern of trade. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.