Quasi-specific factors: worker comparative advantage in the two-sector production model

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Ruffin, RJ
• 署名单位: University of Houston System; University of Houston; Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - Dallas
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1996
• DOI: 10.1016/S0022-1996(00)00072-6
• 发表日期: 2001
• 页码: 445-461
• 关键词: Heckscher-Ohlin; Ricardian; specific factors; wages

摘要

This paper integrates the Heckscher-Ohlin, specific factors, and the Ricardian models of production with applications to international trade and labor economics. The model economy exhibits both Heckscher-Ohlin and specific factors properties, but never at the same time. In international trade, the wage skill premium across countries can move in different directions and has natural limits within countries. In labor economics, we show that the earning of economic rents is not inconsistent with competitive markets in general equilibrium and that process and skill-based innovations have contrasting effects on wage inequality. (C) 2001 EIsevier Science BN. All rights reserved.