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Can the HOS model explain changes in labor shares? A tale of trade and wage rigidities

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  • Decreuse, Bruno
  • Maarek, Paul

Abstract

This paper questions the ability of the standard HOS (Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson) model to explain changes in the labor shares (LS) of income in OECD countries. We use the Davis (1998) version of the HOS model with wage rigidity in a sub-group of countries. We show that trade openness with developing countries reduces LS in rigid wage countries and does not affect LS in free wage countries. This pattern is induced by factor reallocation towards capital-intensive sectors in rigid wage countries. Using the KLEMS dataset for 8 OECD countries over the period 1970–2005, we show that the weight of capital-intensive sectors substantially increased in continental European countries, while it did not change or even decreased in the US and the UK. Fixed effects regressions suggest that trade intensity with China explains between 50% (IV estimates) and 80% (OLS estimates) of the observed differential labor share change between Continental Europe and Anglo-Saxon countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Decreuse, Bruno & Maarek, Paul, 2017. "Can the HOS model explain changes in labor shares? A tale of trade and wage rigidities," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 472-491.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecosys:v:41:y:2017:i:4:p:472-491
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecosys.2017.08.004
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    Cited by:

    1. Qi Ye & Jie Yan, 2024. "The effect of service outsourcing on labor income share: Measuring labor income share from the global value chains perspective," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(9), pages 1-18, September.
    2. Del Río, Fernando & Rebelo, Francisco, 2025. "OECD labour share trends: Factor efficiency vs. market distortions in a neoclassical framework," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 2554-2591.
    3. Kyoji Fukao & Koji Ito & Cristiano Perugini, 2019. "A Microeconomic Analysis of the Declining Labor Share in Japan," ADB Institute Series on Development Economics, in: Gary Fields & Saumik Paul (ed.), Labor Income Share in Asia, chapter 0, pages 247-267, Springer.
    4. Chih‐Hai Yang & Meng‐Wen Tsou, 2021. "Globalization and the labor share in China: Firm‐level evidence," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 89(1), pages 1-23, January.
    5. Taining Wang & Jinjing Tian, 2020. "Recasting the trade impact on labor share: a fixed-effect semiparametric estimation study," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 58(5), pages 2465-2511, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution
    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions

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