Wage inequality in developing countries: South–South trade matters

International Review of Economics - Tập 58 - Trang 359-383 - 2011
Julien Gourdon1,2
1Centre d’Etudes Prospectives et d’Informations Internationales (CEPII), Paris, France
2The World Bank, Washington, USA

Tóm tắt

The relationship between trade liberalization and inequality has received considerable attention in recent years. The major purpose of this study is to present new results on the sources of wage inequalities in manufacturing taking into account South–South (S–S) trade. Globalization has not only lead to increasing North–South (N–S) trade, but it has also changed the direction and composition of trade as more trade is carried out among developing countries. In this study, we find that increasing wage inequality is associated more with the South–South trade liberalization than with the classical trade liberalization with northern countries. A part of this increasing wage inequality due to S–S trade comes from the development of N–S trade relationship in S–S trade that increases wage inequality in middle-income developing countries. This study also seeks to shed some light on the link between the direction of trade and technological change. We explore the fact that S–S trade leads to a technological change biased toward skill-intensive sectors more than N–S trade. This indirect effect increases wage inequality for all developing countries, but it is more important in low-income countries.

Tài liệu tham khảo

Acemoglu D (2003) Patterns of skill premia. Rev Econ Stud 70:199–230 Aghion P, Burgess R, Redding S, Zilibotti F (2003) The unequal effects of liberalization: theory and evidence from India. LSE mimeo. LSE, London Arellano M, Bond S (1991) Some tests of specification for panel data: Montecarlo evidence and an application to employment equations. Rev Econ Stud 58(2):277–297 Arellano M, Bover O (1995) Another look at the instrumental-variable estimation of error-components models. J Econ 68:29–51 Attanasio O, Goldberg PK, Pavcnik N (2004) Trade reforms and wage inequality in Columbia. J Dev Econ 74:331–366 Blundell R, Bond S (1997) Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models. University College London Discussion Papers in Economics: 97/07, July. Card D, DiNardo JE (2002) Skill-biased technological change and rising wage inequality: some problems and puzzles. J Labor Econ 20(4):733–783 Card D, Lemieux T (1994) Changing wage structure and Black-White wage differentials. Am Econ Rev 84(2):29–33 Cragg MI, Epelbaum M (1996) Why has wage dispersion grown in Mexico? Is it the incidence of reforms or the growing demands for skill? J Dev Econ 51:99–116 Davis DR (1996) Trade liberalization and income distribution. NBER Working Paper No. 5693 Feenstra R, Hanson G (1997) Foreign direct investment and relative wages: evidence from Mexico’s Maquiladoras. J Int Econ 42:371–393 Feliciano Z (2001) Workers and trade liberalization: the impact of trade reforms in Mexico on wages and employment. Ind Labor Relat Rev 55(1):95–115 Gindling TH, Robbins D (2001) Patterns and sources of changing wages inequality in Chile and Costa Rica during structural adjustment. World Dev 29:725–745 Goldberg P, Pavcnik N (2004) Trade, inequality, and poverty: what do we know? Evidence from recent trade liberalization episodes in developing countries. NBER Working Paper, No. 10593, June Goldberg PK, Pavcnik N (2005) Trade wages and the political economy of trade protection: evidence from the Columbian trade reforms. J Int Econ 66:75–105 Goldin C, Katz LF (1998) The origins of technology-skill complementarity. Q J Econ 113:693–732 Harrison A, Hanson G (1999) Who gains from trade reform? Some remaining puzzles. J Dev Econ 59 Haskel JE, Slaughter MJ (2002) Does the sector bias of skilled-biased technical change explain changing wage inequality? Eur Econ Rev 46(10):1757–1783 Hiscox MJ, Kastner SL (2002) A general measure of trade policy orientations: gravity model-based estimates from 83 nations, 1960 to 1992. UCSD working paper Keller W (1996) Absorptive capacity: on the creation and acquisition of technology in development. J Dev Econ 49:199–228 Leamer E (1998) In search of Stolper-Samuelson effects on U.S. wages. In: Collins S (ed) Exports, imports and the American worker. Brookings, Washington, DC, pp 141–214 Lopez H (2006) Growth and inequality: are the 1990s different? Econ Lett 93(1):18–25 Milanovic B, Squire L (2005) Does tariffs liberalization increases wage inequality? Some empirical evidence. World Bank policy research working paper, no 3571 Nicita A, Olarreaga M (2006) Trade, production and protection 1976–2004. World Bank, Washington, DC Pavcnik N, Blom A, Goldberg PK, Schady N (2004) Trade policy and industry wage structure: evidence from Brazil. World Bank Econ Rev 18:319–344 Pissarides A (1997) Learning by trading and the returns to human capital in developing countries. World Bank Econ Rev 11:17–32 Rama M (2003) Globalization and workers in developing countries. In: Hasan R, Mitra D (eds) Trade and labor: issues, perspectives and experiences from developing Asia. North-Holland, Amsterdam (NL) Thoenig M, Verdier T (2003) A theory of defensive skill-based innovation and globalization. Am Econ Rev 93:709–728 Wood A (1994) North-South trade employment and inequality. Clarendon Press, Oxford Wood A (1997) Openness and wage inequality in developing countries: the Latin American challenge to East Asia conventional wisdom. World Bank Econ Rev 11:33–57 Zhu SC, Trefler D (2005) Trade and inequality in developing countries: a general equilibrium analysis. J Int Econ 65:21–48