IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/worlde/v28y2005i8p1139-1155.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Unemployment and Trade Liberalisation

Author

Listed:
  • Paul Oslington

Abstract

In contrast to the focus of the public debate over trade liberalisation on job losses there is a widespread view among economists that unemployment and trade issues should be considered separately. This view cannot be justified theoretically, and ignores the growing number of general equilibrium trade models with unemployment. In a simple model with an exogenous wage floor, trade liberalisation can lead to either gains or losses depending on the production technology, severity of the factor market distortion, factor intensities of the industries and conditions in trading partners. Definite results can be derived about gains from liberalising trade with lower wage floors, about relative abundance of the unemployed factor dampening losses when trade is liberalised, and about gains when the good which uses the unemployed factor is exported. The theoretical models are then linked to the policy modelling literature, using the example of recent Australian controversies over liberalisation of trade in automobiles and textiles. It is argued that trade liberalisation would be better advanced by including endogenous employment in trade policy simulation exercises and by discussing employment effects rather than brushing them aside as temporary adjustment problems or regional difficulties.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Oslington, 2005. "Unemployment and Trade Liberalisation," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(8), pages 1139-1155, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:worlde:v:28:y:2005:i:8:p:1139-1155
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9701.2005.00723.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9701.2005.00723.x
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-9701.2005.00723.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ruffin, Roy J., 1981. "Trade and factor movements with three factors and two goods," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 177-182.
    2. Oslington, Paul, 2002. "Factor market linkages in a global economy," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 85-93, June.
    3. Davidson, Carl & Martin, Lawrence & Matusz, Steven, 1999. "Trade and search generated unemployment," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 271-299, August.
    4. Krugman, Paul R, 1993. "What Do Undergrads Need to Know about Trade?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(2), pages 23-26, May.
    5. J. Peter Neary, 1985. "International Factor Mobility, Minimum Wage Rates, and Factor-Price Equalization: A Synthesis," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 100(3), pages 551-570.
    6. Paul Oslington, 2002. "Trade, Wages and Unemployment in the Presence of Hiring and Firing Costs," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 78(241), pages 195-206, June.
    7. Richard A. Brecher, 1974. "Minimum Wage Rates and the Pure Theory of International Trade," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 88(1), pages 98-116.
    8. Corden, W. Max., 1997. "Trade Policy and Economic Welfare," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, edition 2, number 9780198775348.
    9. Oslington, Paul Oslington, 1999. "Duality and the Specific Factors Model," Economia Internazionale / International Economics, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova, vol. 52(3), pages 373-382.
    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. Heaton, Chris & Oslington, Paul, 2010. "Micro vs macro explanations of post-war US unemployment movements," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 106(2), pages 87-91, February.
    2. Frank Ackerman, "undated". "The Shrinking Gains from Trade: A Critical Assessment of Doha Round Projections," GDAE Working Papers 05-01, GDAE, Tufts University.
    3. Hideo Sato, 2021. "A two‐country, three‐commodity Ricardian trade model with Keynesian unemployment," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(2), pages 286-308, May.
    4. Frank Ackerman, 2006. "Assessing the Effects of Trade Liberalisation: A Critical Examination," QA - Rivista dell'Associazione Rossi-Doria, Associazione Rossi Doria, issue 3, July.
    5. Xavier Cirera & Dirk Willenbockel & Rajith W.D. Lakshman, 2014. "Evidence On The Impact Of Tariff Reductions On Employment In Developing Countries: A Systematic Review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3), pages 449-471, July.
    6. Pamela Coke Hamilton & Yvonne Tsikata & Emmanuel Pinto Moreira, 2009. "Accelerating Trade and Integration in the Caribbean : Policy Options for Sustained Growth, Job Creation, and Poverty Reduction," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2652, December.
    7. Bostan, Ionel & Grosu, Veronica, 2011. "General Equilibrium Dynamic Models and the Doha Round Impact on Underdeveloped Economies," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 0(1), pages 159-174, March.
    8. Paul Oslington, 2020. "What is an Australian Job Worth?," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 53(4), pages 482-493, December.

    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. repec:gnv:wpaper:unige:77631 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Céline Carrère & Anja Grujovic & Frédéric Robert-Nicoud, 2020. "Trade and Frictional Unemployment in the Global Economy," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 18(6), pages 2869-2921.
    3. Felbermayr, Gabriel & Prat, Julien & Schmerer, Hans-Jörg, 2011. "Trade and unemployment: What do the data say?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(6), pages 741-758, August.
    4. Xavier Cirera & Dirk Willenbockel & Rajith W.D. Lakshman, 2014. "Evidence On The Impact Of Tariff Reductions On Employment In Developing Countries: A Systematic Review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3), pages 449-471, July.
    5. Hartmut Egger & Frode Meland & Hans-Jörg Schmerer, 2015. "Differences in the degree of unionization as a source of comparative advantage in open economies," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 48(1), pages 245-272, February.
    6. Udo Kreickemeier, 2017. "Unemployment and the Welfare Effects of Trade Policy," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: International Trade and Labor Markets Welfare, Inequality and Unemployment, chapter 3, pages 73-94, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    7. Albert Max & Meckl JuÈrgen, 2001. "Efficiency-Wage Unemployment and Intersectoral Wage Differentials in a Heckscher- Ohlin Model," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 2(3), pages 287-301, August.
    8. Sener, Fuat, 2001. "Schumpeterian unemployment, trade and wages," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 119-148, June.
    9. Albert, Max & Meckl, Jürgen, 1997. "Efficiency wages, unemployment and welfare: A trade theorists' guide," Discussion Papers, Series II 348, University of Konstanz, Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 178 "Internationalization of the Economy".
    10. Svensson, Lars E.O., 1984. "Factor trade and goods trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3-4), pages 365-378, May.
    11. Schweinberger, Albert G., 2001. "Capital, heterogeneous labour, global goods markets and unemployment," Discussion Papers, Series I 309, University of Konstanz, Department of Economics.
    12. Larch Mario & Lechthaler Wolfgang, 2011. "Comparative Advantage and Skill-Specific Unemployment," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-58, April.
    13. Céline CARRERE & Marco FUGAZZA & Marcelo OLARREAGA & Frédéric ROBERT-NICOUD, 2014. "Trade in Unemployment," Working Papers P101, FERDI.
    14. Xinpeng Xu & Yu Sheng, 2014. "Terms of Trade Shocks and Endogenous Search Unemployment: A Two-Sector Model with Non-Traded Goods," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(2), pages 201-215, May.
    15. David Hummels & Jakob R. Munch & Chong Xiang, 2018. "Offshoring and Labor Markets," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(3), pages 981-1028, September.
    16. Bai, Xue & Chatterjee, Arpita & Krishna, Kala & Ma, Hong, 2021. "Trade and minimum wages in general equilibrium: Theory and evidence," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    17. Thede, Susanna, 2012. "A Simple Model of Trade, Job Task Offshoring and Social Insurance," Working Papers 2012:16, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    18. Egger, Hartmut & Etzel, Daniel, 2012. "The impact of trade on employment, welfare, and income distribution in unionized general oligopolistic equilibrium," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(6), pages 1119-1135.
    19. Gan, Li & Hernandez, Manuel A. & Ma, Shuang, 2016. "The higher costs of doing business in China: Minimum wages and firms' export behavior," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 81-94.
    20. Gustavo Gonzaga & Beatriz Muriel & Cristina Terra, 2005. "Abertura Comercial, Desigualdade Salarial E Sindicalização," Anais do XXXIII Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 33rd Brazilian Economics Meeting] 073, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    21. Fischer, Justina A.V., 2012. "The choice of domestic policies in a globalized economy: Extended Version," MPRA Paper 37816, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    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:bla:worlde:v:28:y:2005:i:8:p:1139-1155. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0378-5920 .

    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.