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Shifts in U.S. Relative Wages: The Role of Trade, Technology and Factor Endowments

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Author Info
Robert E. Baldwin
Glen G. Cain
Abstract

This paper investigates three hypotheses to account for the observed shifts in U.S. relative wages of less educated compared to more educated workers between 1967 and 1992: increased import competition, changes in the relative supplies of labor of different education levels and changes in technology. Our analysis relies on a basic relation of the standard general equilibrium trade model that relates changes in product prices to factor price changes and factor shares, and information about changes in the composition of output, trade, within-industry factor use and factor supplies. We conclude that the relative increase in the supply of well educated labor from 1967-1973 was the dominant force that narrowed the wage gap among workers of different education levels. The gap continued to narrow during the rest of the 1970s, but our results are not clear-cut enough to conclude that the continued increase in the rela- tive supply of more educated workers was the main factor shaping relative From 1980-1993, the wage gap between these workers widened sharply despite the continued relative increase in the supply of more educated workers. Increased import competition cannot account for the rise in wage inequality among these groups but it could have contributed to the decline in wages for the least educated. Instead, support is found for technical progress that is saving of less educated labor and more rapid in some manufacturing sectors using highly educated labor as the main force in widening the wage gaps these groups. Last, we use the Deardorff-Staiger model which allows changes in the factor content of trade to reveal the effects of trade on relative factor prices. Our tests show increased import competition from 1977 to 1987 was not the dominant force in widening the wage gap between more educated and less educated labor between those years.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 5934.

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Date of creation: Feb 1997
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:5934

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
F10 - International Economics - - Trade - - - General
J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

References listed on IDEAS
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.:

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    Other versions:
  8. Hakura, D. & Deardorff, A.V., 1993. "Trade and Wages: What Are the Questions?," Working Papers 341, Research Seminar in International Economics, University of Michigan.
  9. Berman, Eli & Bound, John & Griliches, Zvi, 1994. "Changes in the Demand for Skilled Labor within U.S. Manufacturing: Evidence from the Annual Survey of Manufactures," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 109(2), pages 367-97, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    Other versions:
  12. Edward E. Leamer, 1992. "Wage Effects of A U.S. - Mexican Free Trade Agreement," NBER Working Papers 3991, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Revenga, Ana L, 1992. "Exporting Jobs? The Impact of Import Competition on Employment and Wages in U.S. Manufacturing," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 107(1), pages 255-84, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Jones, Ronald W. & Peter Neary, J., 1984. "The positive theory of international trade," Handbook of International Economics, in: R. W. Jones & P. B. Kenen (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 1, pages 1-62 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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(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. James Harrigan, 1998. "International trade and American wages in general equilibrium, 1967-1995," Staff Reports 46, Federal Reserve Bank of New York. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Stephen Tokarick, 2002. "Quantifying the Impact of Trade on Wages: The Role of Nontraded Goods," IMF Working Papers 02/191, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
  3. Lisandro Abrego & John Whalley, 2002. "Decomposing Wage Inequality Change Using General Equilibrium Models," NBER Working Papers 9184, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Haskel, Jonathan & Slaughter, Matthew, 1999. "Trade, Technology and UK Wage Inequality," CEPR Discussion Papers 2091, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Robert C. Feenstra & Gordon H. Hanson, 1997. "Prouctivity Measurement and the Impact of Trade and Technology on Wages: Estimates for the U.S., 1972-1990," NBER Working Papers 6052, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. Gustavo Gonzaga & Naércio Menezes Filho & Cristina Terra, 2006. "Trade Liberalization and the Evolution of Skill Earnings Differentials in Brazil," Development Working Papers 216, Centro Studi Luca d\'Agliano, University of Milano. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Guido G. Porto, 2003. "Using survey data to assess the distributional effects of trade policy," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3137, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Riccardo Faini & Anna M. Falzoni & Marzio Galeotti & Rodolfo Helg & Alessandro Turrini, 2001. "Importing Jobs And Exporting Firms? On The Wage And Employment Implications Of Italy’S Trade And Foreign Direct Investment Flows," International Trade 0103002, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Donghoon Lee & Kenneth I. Wolpin, 2005. "Accounting for Wage and Employment Changes in the U. S. from 1968-2000: A Dynamic Model of Labor Market Equilibrium," PIER Working Paper Archive 06-005, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania, revised 02 Jan 2006. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  10. Peter Gottschalk & Mary Joyce, 1997. "Cross-National Differences in the Rise in Earnings Inequality: Market and Institutional Factors," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 366, Boston College Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  11. Lars Calmfors & Giancarlo Corsetti & Michael P. Devereux & Gilles Saint-Paul & Hans-Werner Sinn & Jan-Egbert Sturm & Xavier Vives, 2008. "Chapter 3: The effect of globalisation on Western European jobs: curse or blessing?," EEAG Report on the European Economy, CESifo Group Munich, vol. 0, pages 71-104, 02. [Downloadable!]
  12. Gustavo Gonzaga & Beatriz Muriel & Cristina Terra, 2005. "Abertura Comercial, Desigualdade Salarial E Sindicalização," Anais do XXXIII Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 33th Brazilian Economics Meeting] 073, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pósgraduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics]. [Downloadable!]
  13. Lisandro Abrego & John Whalley, 2000. "Demand Side Considerations and the Trade and Wages Debate," NBER Working Papers 7674, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. James Harrigan & Rita Balaban, 1999. "U.S. Wages in General Equilibrium: The Effects of Prices, Technology, and Factor Supplies, 1963-1991," NBER Working Papers 6981, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  15. Mary E. Lovely & J. David Richardson, 1998. "Trade Flows and Wage Premiums: Does Who or What Matter?," NBER Working Papers 6668, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Jonathan E. Haskel & Matthew J. Slaughter, 1998. "Does the Sector Bias of Skill-Biased Technical Change Explain Changing Wage Inequality?," NBER Working Papers 6565, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  17. Matthew J. Slaughter, 1998. "What Are the Results of Product-Price Studies and What Can We Learn From Their Differences?," NBER Working Papers 6591, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Jonathan E. Haskel & Matthew J. Slaughter, 2000. "Have Falling Tariffs and Transportation Costs Raised U.S. Wage Inequality?," NBER Working Papers 7539, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
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