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Editor's Choice Capital Account Opening and Wage Inequality

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  • Mauricio Larrain

Abstract

Opening the capital account allows financially constrained firms to raise capital from abroad. Since capital and skilled labor are relative complements, this increases the relative demand for skilled labor versus unskilled labor, leading to higher wage inequality. Using aggregate data and exploiting variation in the timing of capital account openings across 20 mainly European countries, I find that opening the capital account increases aggregate wage inequality. In order to identify the mechanism, I use sectoral data and exploit variation in external financial dependence and capital-skill complementarity across industries. I find that capital account opening increases sectoral wage inequality, particularly in industries with both high financial needs and strong complementarity.

Suggested Citation

  • Mauricio Larrain, 2015. "Editor's Choice Capital Account Opening and Wage Inequality," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(6), pages 1555-1587.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:rfinst:v:28:y:2015:i:6:p:1555-1587.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/rfs/hhu088
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    Cited by:

    1. Fernando Broner & Alberto Martin & Lorenzo Pandolfi & Tomas Williams, 2019. "Winners and losers from Sovereign debt inflows: evidence from the stock market," Economics Working Papers 1693, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    2. Davide Furceri & Mr. Prakash Loungani, 2015. "Capital Account Liberalization and Inequality," IMF Working Papers 2015/243, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Jonathan D. Ostry & Andrew Berg & Siddharth Kothari, 2021. "Growth‐equity trade‐offs in structural reforms," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 68(2), pages 209-237, May.
    4. Thibault Darcillon, 2016. "Do Interactions between Finance and Labour Market Institutions Affect the Income Distribution?," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 30(3), pages 235-257, September.
    5. Davide Furceri & Prakash Loungani & Jonathan D. Ostry, 2019. "The Aggregate and Distributional Effects of Financial Globalization: Evidence from Macro and Sectoral Data," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 51(S1), pages 163-198, December.
    6. Broner, Fernando & Martin, Alberto & Pandolfi, Lorenzo & Williams, Tomas, 2021. "Winners and losers from sovereign debt inflows," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    7. Julia Fonseca & Bernardus Van Doornik, 2020. "Financial Development and Labor Markets: evidence from Brazil," Working Papers Series 532, Central Bank of Brazil, Research Department.
    8. Tomasz Serwach, 2023. "The European Union and within‐country income inequalities. The case of the new member states," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(7), pages 1890-1939, July.
    9. Wang, Xun, 2022. "Capital account liberalization, financial dependence and technological innovation: Cross-country evidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    10. Furceri, Davide & Loungani, Prakash, 2018. "The distributional effects of capital account liberalization," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 127-144.
    11. Tomasz Serwach, 2022. "The European Union and within-country income inequalities. The case of the New Member States," Working Papers hal-03548416, HAL.
    12. Roeger, Werner & Varga, Janos & Veld, Jan in 't & Vogel, Lukas, 2021. "The distributional impact of labour market reforms: A model-based assessment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    13. Francesco D'Acunto & Laurent Frésard, 2018. "Finance, Talent Allocation, and Growth," CESifo Working Paper Series 6883, CESifo.
    14. Li, Xiang & Su, Dan, 2022. "Total factor productivity growth at the firm-level: The effects of capital account liberalization," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    15. Peisen LIU & Shiqi Chen & Yufeng XIA, 2023. "The Effect of Bank Competition and Rural Banks on Wages: Evidence from Agricultural Firms," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 0(4), pages 5-24, December.
    16. Jinyeong Yun, 2023. "Capital Inflows and Income Inequality:Evidence from Panel VAR Approach," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202322, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    17. Li, Xiang, 2021. "Dilemma and global financial cycle: Evidence from capital account liberalisation episodes," IWH Discussion Papers 13/2021, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    18. Chakraborty, Pavel & Raveh, Ohad, 2018. "Input-trade liberalization and the demand for managers: Evidence from India," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 159-176.
    19. Li, Xiang & Su, Dan, 2022. "Surges and instability: The maturity shortening channel," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    20. Khan, Haris & Shehzad, Choudhry Tanveer & Ahmad, Ferhana, 2021. "Temporal effects of financial globalization on income inequality," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 452-467.
    21. Metiu, Norbert, 2016. "How does the stock market respond to changes in bank lending standards?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 92-97.
    22. Ostry, Jonathan D. & Espinoza, Raphael & Zhang, Xiaoxiao, 2019. "Globalization, Redistribution, and the Size of Government," CEPR Discussion Papers 14137, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    23. Rashmi Ahuja & Sugata Marjit, 2022. "Liberalizing Trade and Capital Flows and the Wage Gap: Does Sequencing Matter?," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 375-389, April.
    24. Fonseca, Julia & Van Doornik, Bernardus, 2022. "Financial development and labor market outcomes: Evidence from Brazil," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(1), pages 550-568.
    25. Davide Furceri & Prakash Loungani & Jonathan Ostry & Pietro Pizzuto, 2020. "Financial Globalization, Fiscal Policies and the Distribution of Income," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 62(2), pages 185-199, June.

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