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The role of imports in expanding the demand gap between skilled and unskilled labour in the US

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  • Christis Tombazos

Abstract

A unit cost function is employed, in the context of the production theory approach, to estimate the Allen - Uzawa effect of aggregate imports on skilled and unskilled labour in the US. The model corrects for two ubiquitous shortcomings of similar studies: (i) their disregard for the role of nonmanufactured imports, including imports of services, in domestic production, and (ii) their inability to capture, in addition to the conventional domestic-output-substitution effects of the Stolper-Samuelson variety, the impact of imports on the demand for primary factors that is generated via domestic factor-using downstream processes. To circumvent curvature related problems, often associated with similar studies that do not invoke separability, we combine the global imposition of concavity with a symmetric normalized quadratic representation of the unit cost function (that remains flexible after curvature enforcing reparametrizations). The results confirm the notion that imports hurt unskilled labour. However, they also reveal a previously ignored positive impact of aggregate imports on the demand for skilled labour that is qualitatively independent of the measure of skill employed. This result is attributed to skill intensive downstream processes of aggregate imports and reaffirms the importance of 'downstream handling' in stimulating labour demand first identified by Aw and Roberts (Review of Economics and Statistics, 67, 109-17, 1985).

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  • Christis Tombazos, 1999. "The role of imports in expanding the demand gap between skilled and unskilled labour in the US," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(4), pages 509-516.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:31:y:1999:i:4:p:509-516
    DOI: 10.1080/000368499324228
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Catherine J. Morrison, 2000. "Assessing The Productivity Of Information Technology Equipment In U.S. Manufacturing Industries," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 79(3), pages 471-481, August.
    2. Grossman, Gene, 1982. "The Employment and Wage Effects of Import Competition in the United States," Foerder Institute for Economic Research Working Papers 275356, Tel-Aviv University > Foerder Institute for Economic Research.
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    1. Tombazos, Christis G., 1999. "The impact of imports on the demand for labor in Australia," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(3), pages 351-356, March.
    2. Ismael Sanz & Ferran Martinez Coma, 2007. "Skill and support to globalization in the EU," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4), pages 271-275.
    3. Kurt KRATENA, 2010. "Intra-Industry Trade and Input Demand," EcoMod2004 330600084, EcoMod.
    4. Martin Falk & Bertrand Koebel, 2001. "A dynamic heterogeneous labour demand model for German manufacturing," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(3), pages 339-348.
    5. Tarjáni, Hajnalka, 2006. "A technológiai fejlődés és a kereskedelem hatása a szakképzettségi prémiumra [Analysing the impacts of technological development and trade on the skill premium in Hungary]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(3), pages 226-234.
    6. Hajnalka Tarjani, 2005. "Estimating some labour market implications of skill biased technology change and imports in Hungary," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 0508, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    7. Kurt Kratena, 2004. "Intra-Industry Trade and Input Demand," WIFO Working Papers 238, WIFO.
    8. Falk, Martin & Koebel, Bertrand M., 2000. "Outsourcing of services, imported materials and the demand for heterogeneous labour : an application of a generalised box-cox function," ZEW Discussion Papers 00-51, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    9. Christis G. Tombazos, 2010. "Trade and Wage Inequality in a World of Incomplete Diversification," Chapters, in: Noel Gaston & Ahmed M. Khalid (ed.), Globalization and Economic Integration, chapter 8, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Robert Feenstra & Gordon Hanson, 2001. "Global Production Sharing and Rising Inequality: A Survey of Trade and Wages," NBER Working Papers 8372, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Roberto A. De Santis, 2003. "Wage Inequality in the United Kingdom: Trade and/or Technology?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(6), pages 893-909, June.
    12. Huy Quang Vu, 2012. "Imports and the demand for skilled and unskilled labour - the Australian experience," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 15(1), pages 37-55.

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