Preference heterogeneity, wage inequality, and trade

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Glazer, A; Ranjan, P
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Irvine
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1996
• DOI: 10.1016/S0022-1996(02)00054-5
• 发表日期: 2003
• 页码: 455-469
• 关键词: wages; imperfect competition; international trade

摘要

We consider individuals who value product variety, and who can be skilled or unskilled as workers. Skilled people prefer to consume skill-intensive goods. We show that under plausible conditions an increase in the relative size of the skilled population increases the relative wage of skilled workers, thereby increasing wage inequality. In our two-country model of trade, an increase in the relative supply of skilled labor in either country increases the relative wage of skilled workers, and hence increases inequality in both countries. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.