Skilled Labor Productivity and Cross-Country Income Differences

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Hendricks, Lutz; Schoellman, Todz
• 署名单位: University of North Carolina; University of North Carolina Chapel Hill; University of North Carolina School of Medicine; Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - Minneapolis
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-MACROECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7707
• DOI: 10.1257/mac.20200256
• 发表日期: 2023
• 页码: 240-268
• 关键词: human-capital stock; WORLD; TECHNOLOGY; SHARES

摘要

This paper revisits the question of how allowing for imper-fect substitution among workers with different skill levels affects the results of development accounting. We consider a range of models that nest the approaches in the literature and calibrate them to a common set of moments, including particularly evidence on the wage gains of migrants. We obtain two main results. First, human capital accounts for between one-half and three-fourths of cross-country income gaps. Second, human capital accounts for only modest variation in the relative productivity of skilled versus unskilled labor. (JEL E24, E25, J22, J23, J24, J31, J61)