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Trade, Wages and ´Superstars’

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Author Info
Paolo Manasse (University of Milan and IGIER)
Alessandro Turrini (University of Bergamo, CESPRI, Centro Studi Luca d´Agliano)

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Abstract

We study the effect “globalization” on wage inequality. Our “global” economy resembles Rosen (1981) “Superstars” economy, where a) innovations in production and communication technologies enable suppliers to reach a larger mass of consumers and to improve the (perceived) quality of their products and b) trade barriers fall. When transport cost fall, income is redistributed away from the non-exporting to the exporting sector of the economy. As the latter turns out to employ workers of higher skill and pay, the effect is to raise wage inequality. Whether the least skilled are stand to lose or gain from improved production or communication technologies, in contrast, depends on whether technology is skill-complement or substitute. The model provides an intuitive explanation for why changes in wage premia are so strongly affected by export’ growth in plant-level empirical investigations (Bernard and Jensen (1997)).

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Centro Studi Luca d\'Agliano, University of Milano in its series Development Working Papers with number 127.

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Date of creation: 01 Jun 1999
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Handle: RePEc:csl:devewp:127

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Related research
Keywords: International trade; wage inequality; technological change;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies
F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions
J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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  1. Krugman, Paul, 1980. "Scale Economies, Product Differentiation, and the Pattern of Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(5), pages 950-59, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Gene M. Grossman & Giovanni Maggi, 1998. "Diversity and Trade," NBER Working Papers 6741, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Brian J. Hall & Jeffrey B. Liebman, 1998. "Are CEOs Really Paid Like Bureaucrats?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 113(3), pages 653-691, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Bernard, Andrew B. & Bradford Jensen, J., 1999. "Exceptional exporter performance: cause, effect, or both?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 1-25, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Rosen, Sherwin, 1981. "The Economics of Superstars," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(5), pages 845-58, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Roberts, Mark J & Tybout, James R, 1997. "The Decision to Export in Colombia: An Empirical Model of Entry with Sunk Costs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(4), pages 545-64, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Andrew B. Bernard & Joachim Wagner, 1998. "Export Entry and Exit by German Firms," NBER Working Papers 6538, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Smith, Alasdair & Venables, Anthony J., 1991. "Economic integration and market access," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(2-3), pages 388-395, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Freeman, Richard B, 1995. "Are Your Wages Set in Beijing?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 15-32, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Grossmann, G.M. & Maggi, G., 1998. "Diversity and Trade," Papers 192, Princeton, Woodrow Wilson School - Public and International Affairs.
  11. Juhn, Chinhui & Murphy, Kevin M & Pierce, Brooks, 1993. "Wage Inequality and the Rise in Returns to Skill," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(3), pages 410-42, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Paolo Epifani, 2002. "Trade Liberalization, Firm Performance and Labor Market Outcomes in the Developing World What Can We Learn From Micro-Level Data?," CESPRI Working Papers 138, CESPRI, Centre for Research on Innovation and Internationalisation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy, revised Feb 2003. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Paolo Epifani & Gino Gancia, 2004. "The Skill Bias of World Trade," Economics Working Papers 833, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Mar 2007. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Peter J. Kuhn & Carol McAusland, 2006. "The International Migration of Knowledge Workers: When is Brain Drain Beneficial?," NBER Working Papers 12761, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Valeria Gattai, 2006. "From the Theory of the Firm to FDI and Internalisation: A Survey," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 65(2), pages 225-262, November. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Paolo Manasse & Luca Stanca & Alessandro Turrini, 2001. "Wage Premia and Skill Upgrading in Italy: Why didn’t the Hound Bark?," Working Papers 37, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Nov 2001. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Rosario Crinò & Paolo Epifani, 2009. "Export Intensity and Productivity," Development Working Papers 271, Centro Studi Luca d\'Agliano, University of Milano. [Downloadable!]
  7. Hartmut Egger & Udo Kreickemeier, 2008. "Fairness, Trade, and Inequality," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Monte, Ferdinando, 2009. "Skill Bias, Trade, and Wage Dispersion," MPRA Paper 14719, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 06 Oct 2009. [Downloadable!]
  9. Paolo Manasse & Luca Stanca, 2002. "Working on the Train: Technology, Trade and Wages in Italian Manufacturing," Working Papers 61, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Nov 2002. [Downloadable!]
  10. Mori Mori, Tomoya & Turrini, Alessandro Antonio, 2000. "Skills, Agglomeration and Segmentation," CEPR Discussion Papers 2645, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Roine, Jesper & Waldenström, Daniel, 2009. "Common Trends and Shocks to Top Incomes – A Structural Breaks Approach," Working Paper Series 801, Research Institute of Industrial Economics. [Downloadable!]
  12. Heshmati, Almas, 2005. "The Relationship between Income Inequality, Poverty, and Globalization," Working Papers RP2005/37, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER). [Downloadable!]
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  13. Verhoogen, Eric A., 2007. "Trade, Quality Upgrading and Wage Inequality in the Mexican Manufacturing Sector," CEPR Discussion Papers 6385, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  14. Gersbach, Hans & Schmutzler, Armin, 2007. "Does Globalization Create Superstars?," CEPR Discussion Papers 6222, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  15. Pranab Bardhan, 2009. "Middlemen Margins and Globalization," Working Papers id:2202, esocialsciences.com. [Downloadable!]
  16. Alcala Agullo, Francisco & Hernández Martínez, Pedro Jesús, 2006. "Firms’ Main Market, Human Capital, and Wages," Annals of Computational Economics 4102, Murcia University, DIGITUM. Universidad de Murcia. [Downloadable!]
  17. Yasuhiro Sato & Kazuhiro Yamamoto, 2007. "Trade impacts on skill formation: welfare improvements accompanied by rises in inequality," Discussion Papers in Economics and Business 07-12, Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics and Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP). [Downloadable!]
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