TRADE, TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE, AND WAGE INEQUALITY: THE CASE OF MEXICO

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Waddle, Andrea
• 署名单位: University of Richmond
• 刊物名称: INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0020-6598
• DOI: 10.1111/iere.12485
• 发表日期: 2021
• 页码: 243-276
• 关键词: Skill premium; INTERNATIONAL-TRADE; LIBERALIZATION; GROWTH; GLOBALIZATION; PRODUCTIVITY

摘要

Following the U.S.-Mexico trade integration, the skill premium rose dramatically in Mexico. Standard trade theory predicts the skill premium in a skill-scarce country should fall-not rise-following such an integration. This article reconciles theory and data by building a model in which intermediate producers in Mexico begin to produce for the U.S. supply chain following liberalization. To do so, they must rent ideas from the United States, which are more skill-intensive, thus increasing the skill premium. This mechanism is supported by the data: Mexican plants and industries that trade more with the United States rent more U.S. technology and have higher skill premia.