Trade, Quality Upgrading, and Input Linkages: Theory and Evidence from Colombia

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Cecilia Fieler, Ana; Eslava, Marcela; Xi, Daniel Yi
• 署名单位: University of Pennsylvania; National Bureau of Economic Research; Universidad de los Andes (Colombia); Duke University
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.20150796
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: 109-146
• 关键词: FOREIGN DIRECT-INVESTMENT; capital-skill complementarity; research-and-development; INTERNATIONAL-TRADE; comparative advantage; MANUFACTURING PLANTS; developing-countries; intermediate inputs; wage inequality; labor-market

摘要

A quantitative model brings together theories linking international trade to quality, technology, and demand for skills. Standard effects of trade on importers and exporters are magnified through domestic input linkages. We estimate the model with data from Colombian manufacturing firms before the 1991 trade liberalization. A counterfactual trade liberalization is broadly consistent with post-liberalization data. It increases skill intensity from 12 to 16 percent, while decreasing sales. Imported inputs, estimated to be of higher quality, and domestic input linkages are quantitatively important. Economies of scale, export expansion, and reallocation of production are small and cannot explain post- liberalization data.