Trade and Inequality: From Theory to Estimation

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Helpman, Elhanan; Itskhoki, Oleg; Muendler, Marc-Andreas; Redding, Stephen J.
• 署名单位: Harvard University; Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR); Princeton University; University of California System; University of California San Diego
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMIC STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6527
• DOI: 10.1093/restud/rdw025
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: 357-405
• 关键词: wage inequality; INTERNATIONAL-TRADE; firm heterogeneity; employer-size; job search; exporters; WORKER; LIBERALIZATION; GLOBALIZATION; adjustment

摘要

While neoclassical theory emphasizes the impact of trade on wage inequality between occupations and sectors, more recent theories of firm heterogeneity point to the impact of trade on wage dispersion within occupations and sectors. Using linked employer-employee data for Brazil, we show that much of overall wage inequality arises within sector-occupations and for workers with similar observable characteristics; this within component is driven by wage dispersion between firms; and wage dispersion between firms is related to firm employment size and trade participation. We then extend the heterogenous-firm model of trade and inequality from Helpman et al. (2010) and estimate it with Brazilian data. We show that the estimated model provides a close approximation to the observed distribution of wages and employment. We use the estimated model to undertake counterfactuals, in which we find sizable effects of trade on wage inequality.