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The Choice of Structural Model in Trade-Wages Decompositions

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Author Info
Lisandro Abrego
John Whalley

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Abstract

This paper explores the use of structural models as an alternative to reduced form methods when decomposing observed joint trade and technology driven wage changes into components attributable to each source. Conventiona mobile factors Heckscher-Ohlin models typically reveal problems of specialisation unless price changes accompanying trade shocks are small, and can also produce wide ranges for the decomposition for parameterisations consistent with the joint change. A differentiated goods model which generalises Heckscher-Ohlin removes problems of specialisation and concentrates the range of decompositions more narrowly, but introduces larger demand side responses to trade shocks which greatly reduce the effect of trade. The conclusion offered is that the choice of structural model matters for decomposing observed wage changes into trade and technology components, and that reduced-form methods which do not discriminate between alternative structural models may not be that informative for such decompositions..

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation (CSGR), University of Warwick in its series CSGR Working papers series with number 34/99.

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Date of creation: May 1999
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Handle: RePEc:wck:wckewp:34/99

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Keywords: Wage inequality; trade; technology.;

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This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports: 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:
  2. Clinton R. Shiells & Kenneth A. Reinert, 1993. "Armington Models and Terms-of-Trade Effects: Some Econometric Evidence for North America," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 26(2), pages 299-316, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Hakura, D. & Deardorff, A.V., 1993. "Trade and Wages: What Are the Questions?," Working Papers 341, Research Seminar in International Economics, University of Michigan.
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  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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  11. Wood, Adrian, 1997. "Openness and Wage Inequality in Developing Countries: The Latin American Challenge to East Asian Conventional Wisdom," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 33-57, January.
  12. Jonathan Haskel & Matthew J. Slaughter, 1999. "Trade, Technology and U.K. Wage Inequality," NBER Working Papers 6978, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Wood, Adrian, 1998. "Globalisation and the Rise in Labour Market Inequalities," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 108(450), pages 1463-82, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. David Card, 1998. "Falling Union Membership and Rising Wage Inequality: What's the Connection?," NBER Working Papers 6520, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  17. Steven J. Davis, 1992. "Cross-Country Patterns of Change in Relative Wages," NBER Working Papers 4085, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. Neven, Damien J & Wyplosz, Charles, 1996. "Relative Prices, Trade and Restructuring in European Industry," CEPR Discussion Papers 1451, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  19. Edward E. Leamer, 1996. "In Search of Stolper-Samuelson Effects on U.S. Wages," NBER Working Papers 5427, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. Peter Gottschalk & Timothy M. Smeeding, 1997. "Cross-National Comparisons of Earnings and Income Inequality," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(2), pages 633-687, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 1996. "International Differences in Male Wage Inequality: Institutions versus Market Forces," NBER Working Papers 4678, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  22. de Melo, Jaime & Robinson, Sherman, 1989. "Product differentiation and the treatment of foreign trade in computable general equilibrium models of small economies," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(1-2), pages 47-67, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

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. T. Huw Edwards & John Whalley, 2002. "Short and Long Run Decompositions of OECD Wage Inequality Changes," NBER Working Papers 9265, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Dirk Velde, 2001. "Foreign direct investment and factor prices in U.S. manufacturing," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer, vol. 137(4), pages 622-643, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Stephen Tokarick, 2002. "Quantifying the Impact of Trade on Wages: The Role of Nontraded Goods," IMF Working Papers 02/191, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
  4. Niven Winchester & David Greenaway & Geoffrey V. Reed, 2006. "Skill Classification and the Effects of Trade on Wage Inequality," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer, vol. 142(2), pages 287-306, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Scott, Ewan & Emerson, Robert D., 2001. "Wage Differentials And Trade Relationships In Jamaica: Applications Of Truncated Regression Models And Repeated Cross-Section Data," 2001 Annual meeting, August 5-8, Chicago, IL 20475, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association). [Downloadable!]
  6. 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)
  7. Thierfelder, Karen & Robinson, Sherman, 2002. "Trade and the skilled-unskilled wage gap in a model with differentiated goods," TMD discussion papers 96, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
  8. Hui Huang & John Whalley, 2003. "The Use of Literature Based Elasticity Estimates in Calibrated Models of Trade-Wage Decompositions: A Calibmetric Approach," NBER Working Papers 10137, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  9. Michael Pflüger, 2003. "Trade, Technology and Labour Markets: Empirical Controversies in the Light of the Jones Model," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 328, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  10. Lisandro Abrego & John Whalley, 2002. "Decomposing Wage Inequality Change Using General Equilibrium Models," University of Western Ontario, RBC Financial Group Economic Policy Research Institute Working Papers 20022, University of Western Ontario, RBC Financial Group Economic Policy Research Institute. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  11. Thierfelder, Karen & Robinson, Sherman, 2002. "Trade and tradability," TMD discussion papers 93, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
  12. Michael Pflüger, 2001. "Trade, capital mobility, and the German labour market," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer, vol. 137(3), pages 473-500, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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