Trade Imbalances, Export Structure and Wage Inequality

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Crino, Rosario; Epifani, Paolo
• 署名单位: Center for Economic & Policy Research (CEPR); Bocconi University; Bocconi University
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1111/ecoj.12134
• 发表日期: 2014
• 页码: 507-539
• 关键词: Ricardian model; UNITED-STATES; continuum; QUALITY; pattern; terms; WORLD; LABOR

摘要

We study, both theoretically and empirically, how trade imbalances affect the structure of countries' exports and wage inequality. We show that, in a Heckscher-Ohlin model with a continuum of goods, a Southern (Northern) trade surplus leads to an increase (reduction) in the average skill intensity of exports, in the relative demand for skills and in the skill premium in both countries. We provide robust support for the mechanism underlying these predictions using a large panel of countries observed over the past 30years. Our results suggest that the large and growing North-South trade imbalances arisen over the last three decades may have exacerbated wage inequality worldwide.