Intraindustry trade and the skill premium: Theory and evidence

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Dinopoulos, Elias; Syropoulos, Constantinos; Xu, Bin; Yotov, Yoto V.
• 署名单位: State University System of Florida; University of Florida; Drexel University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1996
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2011.01.003
• 发表日期: 2011
• 页码: 15-25
• 关键词: monopolistic competition; Non-homotheticity; Output elasticity of substitution

摘要

We explore theoretically and empirically the relationship between intraindustry trade and the skill premium. Our model features a Chamberlinian-type mechanism of income distribution based on quasi-homothetic consumer preferences, non-homothetic production, and factor-biased scale economies at the firm level. The analysis focuses on a two-country, one-sector model of intraindustry trade with two factor inputs consisting of high-skilled and low-skilled labor. We find that a move from autarky to free trade (a) raises the output of the representative firm and its level of total factor productivity, and (b) reduces (raises) the relative wage of high-skilled workers under the hypothesis of output-skill substitutability (output-skill complementarity). Plant-level evidence from Mexico supports the empirical relevance of the proposed income-distribution mechanism. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.