IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ecm/wc2000/1931.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Trade Induced Technical Bias and Wage Inequalities: A Theory of Defensive Innovation

Author

Listed:
  • Mathias Thoenig

    (INSEE)

Abstract

This paper considers a dynamic North South model of international trade and innovations in which firms can endogenously bias the direction of technological change. We show that, when there is a differential degree of protection of property rights between the two regions, innovating firms face a trade-off between delocalization in the South and more secure property rights in the North. For a certain range of products, the optimal response to this tradeoff is the emergence of endogenous technological bias towards skilled labour technologies. We discuss the implications of this trade induced technological bias on the dynamics of international trade and relative wages in the two regions. For some configurations of parameters, the model is able to generate, along the transition path, an increase in wage inequalities in both regions and skill upgrading of southern production compatible with small changes in import penetration rates in North.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Mathias Thoenig, 2000. "Trade Induced Technical Bias and Wage Inequalities: A Theory of Defensive Innovation," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 1931, Econometric Society.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecm:wc2000:1931
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://fmwww.bc.edu/RePEc/es2000/1931a.pdf
    File Function: main text
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://fmwww.bc.edu/RePEc/es2000/1931b.pdf
    File Function: main text
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://fmwww.bc.edu/RePEc/es2000/1931c.pdf
    File Function: main text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mathias Thoenig & Thierry Verdier, 2003. "A Theory of Defensive Skill-Biased Innovation and Globalization," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(3), pages 709-728, June.
    2. Koeniger, Winfried, 2002. "Defensive Innovations," IZA Discussion Papers 454, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Paulo Bastos & Odd Rune Straume, 2012. "Globalization, product differentiation, and wage inequality," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(3), pages 857-878, August.
    4. Gancia, Gino & Zilibotti, Fabrizio, 2005. "Horizontal Innovation in the Theory of Growth and Development," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 3, pages 111-170, Elsevier.
    5. J. Peter Neary, 2002. "Globalisation and market structure," Working Papers 200220, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    6. J. Peter Neary, 2002. "Competition, Trade and Wages," International Economic Association Series, in: David Greenaway & Richard Upward & Katharine Wakelin (ed.), Trade, Investment, Migration and Labour Market Adjustment, chapter 3, pages 28-46, Palgrave Macmillan.
    7. J.Peter Neary, 2002. "Foreign Competition and Wage Inequality," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(4), pages 680-693, November.
    8. Patrick Artus, 2006. "Intégration commerciale avec des pays émergents ayant des ressources importantes en main-d'œuvre qualifiée. Quels effets pour les pays européens ?," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 57(4), pages 673-704.
    9. Maurin, Eric & Thesmar, David, 2002. "Globalization and the demand for skill: An Export Based Channel," CEPR Discussion Papers 3406, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Koeniger, Winfried, 2001. "Trade, Labor Market Rigidities, and Government-Financed Technological Change," IZA Discussion Papers 241, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D33 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Factor Income Distribution
    • F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ecm:wc2000:1931. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Christopher F. Baum (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/essssea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.