IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ind/citdwp/13-01.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Trade and Wage Inequality: A Specific Factor Model with Intermediate Goods

Author

Listed:
  • Alokesh Barua

    (Centre for International Trade and Development,Jawaharlal Nehru University)

  • Manoj Pant

    (Centre for International Trade and Development,Jawaharlal Nehru University)

Abstract

In this paper we have made an attempt to explain the observed rising inequality between unskilled and skilled wages, or, fall in relative wages of unskilled labour within a general equilibrium framework by introducing specific factors and non- traded intermediate goods. For this we set up two distinct models of trade. The first model shows that for a small economy with specific factors freer trade may cause (a) both skilled and unskilled wages to rise, and, (b) the two wage rates may move in opposite directions depending on the trade – induced patterns of specialization. The model also suggests that while trade may increase wage inequality, this does not imply that poverty increases as wages of unskilled workers increase. By extending the model to incorporate intermediate goods we have shown that wage inequality may unambiguously increase (decrease). However, it is seen that this is a consequence of the structure of trade and not trade per se.

Suggested Citation

  • Alokesh Barua & Manoj Pant, "undated". "Trade and Wage Inequality: A Specific Factor Model with Intermediate Goods," Centre for International Trade and Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Discussion Papers 13-01, Centre for International Trade and Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
    • Handle: RePEc:ind:citdwp:13-01
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.jnu.ac.in/sites/default/files/DP01_2013.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hasan, Rana & Mitra, Devashish & Ranjan, Priya & Ahsan, Reshad N., 2012. "Trade liberalization and unemployment: Theory and evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 269-280.
    2. Wood, Adrian, 1997. "Openness and Wage Inequality in Developing Countries: The Latin American Challenge to East Asian Conventional Wisdom," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 11(1), pages 33-57, January.
    3. Dutt, Pushan & Mitra, Devashish & Ranjan, Priya, 2009. "International trade and unemployment: Theory and cross-national evidence," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(1), pages 32-44, June.
    4. Harrison, Ann & McLaren, John & McMillan, Margaret S., 2010. "Recent findings on trade and inequality:," IFPRI discussion papers 1047, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. Xiang, Chong, 2007. "Diversification cones, trade costs and factor market linkages," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 448-466, April.
    6. Hamid Beladi & Ravi Batra, 2004. "Traded and Nontraded Goods and Real Wages," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(1), pages 1-14, February.
    7. Jagdish Bhagwati & Arvind Panagariya & T. N. Srinivasan, 1998. "Lectures on International Trade, 2nd Edition," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262522470, December.
    8. Bakhtiari, Sasan, 2012. "Offshoring, wages and the growing skill gap: Advocating offshoring without sectoral reallocation," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 46-58.
    9. Mehta, Aashish & Hasan, Rana, 2012. "The effects of trade and services liberalization on wage inequality in India," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 75-90.
    10. Batra, Ravi & Slottje, Daniel J, 1993. "Trade Policy and Poverty in the United States: Theory and Evidence, 1947-1990," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 1(3), pages 189-208, October.
    11. Alan V. Deardorff, 2001. "Does Growth Encourage Factor Price Equalization?," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(2), pages 169-181, June.
    12. Ravi Batra & Hamid Beladi, 2010. "Outsourcing and the Heckscher–Ohlin Model," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(2), pages 277-288, May.
    13. Ranjan, Priya, 2012. "Trade liberalization, unemployment, and inequality with endogenous job destruction," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 16-29.
    14. Deardorff, Alan V, 2001. "Does Growth Encourage Factor Price Equalization?," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(2), pages 169-181, June.
    15. Batra, Ravi, 1992. "The Fallacy of Free Trade," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 1(1), pages 19-31, November.
    16. Davidson, Carl & Matusz, Steven J., 2012. "A model of globalization and firm-worker matching: How good is good enough?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 5-15.
    17. Mitra, Devashish & Shin, Jeongeun, 2012. "Import protection, exports and labor-demand elasticities: Evidence from Korea," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 91-109.
    18. William R. Cline, 1997. "Trade and Income Distribution," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 58, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Pi, Jiancai & Zhang, Pengqing, 2018. "Skill-biased technological change and wage inequality in developing countries," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 347-362.
    2. Zhang, Jingjing, 2015. "International factor mobility, elasticity of substitution in production and the skilled–unskilled wage gap," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 122-129.
    3. Sun, Sizhong & Anwar, Sajid, 2015. "Taxation of labour, product varieties and skilled–unskilled wage inequality: Short run versus long run," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 250-257.
    4. Jiancai Pi & Xiangyu Huang, 2021. "Product Variety and Wage Inequality," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 22(1), pages 135-151, May.
    5. Anwar, Sajid & Sun, Sizhong, 2015. "Taxation of labour income and the skilled–unskilled wage inequality," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 18-22.
    6. Zhenshan Yang & Xunhaoyue Zeng, 2019. "Envisioning the Impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on Regional Labor Markets," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-17, April.
    7. Sugata Marjit & Manoj Pant & Sugandha Huria, 2020. "Unskilled immigration, technical progress, and wages—Role of the household sector," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 235-251, February.
    8. Jiancai Pi & Kaiqi Zhang & Xiangyu Huang, 2023. "Financial globalization and wage inequality," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 70(2), pages 144-157, May.
    9. Senjuti Gupta & Bidisha Chakraborty & Tanmoyee Banerjee (Chatterjee), 2019. "Service Good as an Intermediate Input and Optimal Government Policy in an Endogenous Growth Model," South Asian Journal of Macroeconomics and Public Finance, , vol. 8(1), pages 57-91, June.
    10. Chaudhuri, Sarbajit & Marjit, Sugata, 2017. "International trade and quality of labour," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 582-595.
    11. Sugandha Huria & Manoj Pant, 2018. "Foreign direct investment, welfare and wage inequality in a small open economy: theory and empirics," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 131-166, December.
    12. Xu, Yun & Ouyang, Alice Y., 2017. "Tariffs, relative prices and wage inequality: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 97-109.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xu, Yun & Ouyang, Alice Y., 2017. "Tariffs, relative prices and wage inequality: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 97-109.
    2. Lorenzo Rotunno & Adrian Wood, 2015. "Wages and endowments in a globalised world," Economics Papers 2015-W11, Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford.
    3. Pi, Jiancai & Zhou, Yu, 2013. "Institutional quality and skilled–unskilled wage inequality," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 356-363.
    4. Dhamija, Nidhi, 2019. "Trade Liberalization and Unemployment in India: A State Level Analysis," MPRA Paper 95001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Woong Lee, 2017. "Trade Liberalization and the Aggregate Matching Function in India," Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, vol. 16(1), pages 120-137, Winter/Sp.
    6. Oladi, Reza & Beladi, Hamid, 2009. "Market interconnection and wages," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 105(1), pages 117-119, October.
    7. Lukas Mohler & Rolf Weder & Simone Wyss, 2018. "International trade and unemployment: towards an investigation of the Swiss case," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 154(1), pages 1-12, December.
    8. Anwar, Sajid & Sun, Sizhong, 2015. "Taxation of labour income and the skilled–unskilled wage inequality," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 18-22.
    9. Pi, Jiancai & Zhou, Yu, 2014. "Foreign capital, public infrastructure, and wage inequality in developing countries," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 195-207.
    10. Nazia Anjum & Zahid Perviz, 2016. "Effect of Trade Openness on Unemployment in Case of Labour and Capital Abundant Countries," Bulletin of Business and Economics (BBE), Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH), vol. 5(1), pages 44-58, March.
    11. Schmerer, Hans-Jörg, 2014. "Foreign direct investment and search unemployment: Theory and evidence," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 41-56.
    12. Njikam, Ousmanou, 2016. "Trade liberalization, labor market regulations and labor demand in Cameroon," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 525-541.
    13. Sun, Sizhong & Anwar, Sajid, 2015. "Taxation of labour, product varieties and skilled–unskilled wage inequality: Short run versus long run," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 250-257.
    14. Alokesh Baura & Priyanta Ghosh, 2015. "On Wage Inequality, Trade and Technology: Theory and Empirics," Centre for International Trade and Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Discussion Papers 15-09, Centre for International Trade and Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
    15. Ignat Stepanok, 2016. "Creative destruction and unemployment in an open economy model," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 49(3), pages 931-948, August.
    16. Kondo, Illenin O., 2018. "Trade-induced displacements and local labor market adjustments in the U.S," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 180-202.
    17. Alkhateeb, Tarek Tawfik Yousef & Mahmood, Haider & Sultan, Zafar Ahmad & Ahmad, Nawaz, 2017. "Trade Openness and Employment Nexus in Saudi Arabia," MPRA Paper 109451, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Pi, Jiancai & Zhou, Yu & Yin, Jun, 2013. "International factor mobility, monopolistic competition, and wage inequality," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 326-332.
    19. Hoekman & Bernard & Winters, L. Alan, 2005. "Trade and employment : stylized facts and research findings," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3676, The World Bank.
    20. Mbekeni Lutho & Phiri Andrew, 2020. "South African Unemployment in the Post-Financial Crisis Era: What are the Determinants?," Folia Oeconomica Stetinensia, Sciendo, vol. 20(2), pages 230-248, December.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F11 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Neoclassical Models of Trade
    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations

    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:ind:citdwp:13-01. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Shamprasad M. Pujar (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/itjnuin.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.