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Foreign labor costs and domestic employment: What are the spillovers?

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  • Dao, Mai Chi

Abstract

This paper studies the international spillover effects of country-specific labor cost changes in the presence of labor market frictions. A two-country model with search frictions predicts that a cut in foreign labor costs leads to an increase in domestic employment, driven by a positive terms of trade effect on job creation. I find empirical evidence in support of this positive spillover effect, the terms of trade channel, and the dependence on the degree of labor market rigidity. This is done by a panel regression that estimates the effect of exogenous variation in foreign unit labor costs, instrumented by changes in foreign statutory social security contribution rates, on domestic employment and output.

Suggested Citation

  • Dao, Mai Chi, 2013. "Foreign labor costs and domestic employment: What are the spillovers?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 154-171.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:inecon:v:89:y:2013:i:1:p:154-171
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2012.06.005
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    Cited by:

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    2. Fries, Claudia, 2015. "Spillover effects of labour market reforms in a three-country world," ZEW Discussion Papers 15-040, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Hoffmann, Mathias & Kliem, Martin & Krause, Michael & Moyen, Stéphane & Šauer, Radek, 2021. "Rebalancing the euro area: Is wage adjustment in Germany the answer?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    4. Ruppert, Kilian & Stähler, Nikolai, 2022. "What drives the German current account? Household savings, capital investments and public policies," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    5. Gabriel J. Felbermayr & Mario Larch & Wolfgang Lechthaler, 2015. "Labour‐market institutions and their impact on trade partners: A quantitative analysis," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 48(5), pages 1917-1943, December.
    6. Jörg Decressin & Raphael A Espinoza & Ioannis Halikias & Michael Kumhof & Daniel Leigh & Prakash Loungani & Paulo A Medas & Susanna Mursula & Antonio Spilimbergo & TengTeng Xu, 2015. "Wage Moderation in Crises; Policy Considerations and Applications to the Euro Area," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 15/22, International Monetary Fund.
    7. Ruppert, Kilian & Stähler, Nikolai, 2020. "Household savings, capital investments and public policies: What drives the German current account?," Discussion Papers 41/2020, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    8. Luke Lin & Wen-Yuan Lin, 2018. "Does the major market influence transfer? Alternative effect on Asian stock markets," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 50(4), pages 1169-1200, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    International spillover effects; Terms of trade; Unemployment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F41 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Open Economy Macroeconomics
    • F42 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - International Policy Coordination and Transmission
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity

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