IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/inecon/v89y2013i1p187-201.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Trade and the allocation of talent with capital market imperfections

Author

Listed:
  • Bonfatti, Roberto
  • Ghatak, Maitreesh

Abstract

Trade liberalization in the 1980s and 1990s has been associated with a sharp increase in the skill premium in both developed and developing countries. This is in apparent conflict with neoclassical theory, according to which trade should decrease the relative return on the relatively scarce factor, and thus decrease the skill premium in skill-scarce developing countries. We develop a simple model of trade with talent heterogeneity and capital market imperfections, and show that trade can increase the skill premium in a skill-scarce South that opens up to a skill-abundant North, both in the short run as well as in the long run. We show that trade has two effects: it reduces the skilled wage, and therefore drives non talented agents out of the skilled labor force. It also reduces the cost of subsistence, thereby allowing the talented offspring of unskilled workers to go to school. This compositional effect has a positive effect on the observed skill premium, potentially strong enough to outweigh the decrease in the skilled wage. In our framework, trade liberalization may trigger an increase in the skill-premium in both the North and the South.

Suggested Citation

  • Bonfatti, Roberto & Ghatak, Maitreesh, 2013. "Trade and the allocation of talent with capital market imperfections," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 187-201.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:inecon:v:89:y:2013:i:1:p:187-201
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2012.07.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022199612001316
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jinteco.2012.07.005?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Krisztina Kis-Katos & Robert Sparrow, 2011. "Child Labor and Trade Liberalization in Indonesia," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 46(4), pages 722-749.
    2. Gueorgui Kambourov, 2009. "Labour Market Regulations and the Sectoral Reallocation of Workers: The Case of Trade Reforms," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 76(4), pages 1321-1358.
    3. Kalina Manova, 2013. "Credit Constraints, Heterogeneous Firms, and International Trade," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 80(2), pages 711-744.
    4. Eric A. Verhoogen, 2008. "Trade, Quality Upgrading, and Wage Inequality in the Mexican Manufacturing Sector," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(2), pages 489-530.
    5. Wacziarg, Romain & Wallack, Jessica Seddon, 2004. "Trade liberalization and intersectoral labor movements," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 411-439, December.
    6. Findlay, Ronald & Kierzkowski, Henryk, 1983. "International Trade and Human Capital: A Simple General Equilibrium Model," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 91(6), pages 957-978, December.
    7. Ann Harrison & John McLaren & Margaret McMillan, 2011. "Recent Perspectives on Trade and Inequality," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 3(1), pages 261-289, September.
    8. Chesnokova, Tatyana & Krishna, Kala, 2009. "Skill acquisition, credit constraints, and trade," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 227-238, March.
    9. Naércio Aquino Menezes Filho & Marc-Andreas Muendler, 2007. "Labor Reallocation in Response to Trade Reform," CESifo Working Paper Series 1936, CESifo.
    10. Pedro Carneiro & James J. Heckman & Edward J. Vytlacil, 2011. "Estimating Marginal Returns to Education," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(6), pages 2754-2781, October.
    11. Davis, Donald, 1996. "Trade Liberalization And Income Distribution," Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID) Papers 294371, Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government.
    12. Ranjan, Priya, 2001. "Credit constraints and the phenomenon of child labor," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 81-102, February.
    13. Kletzer, Kenneth & Bardhan, Pranab, 1987. "Credit markets and patterns of international trade," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(1-2), pages 57-70, October.
    14. Attanasio, Orazio & Goldberg, Pinelopi K. & Pavcnik, Nina, 2004. "Trade reforms and wage inequality in Colombia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 331-366, August.
    15. José Wynne, 2005. "Wealth as a Determinant of Comparative Advantage," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 226-254, March.
    16. Elhanan Helpman & Oleg Itskhoki & Stephen Redding, 2010. "Inequality and Unemployment in a Global Economy," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 78(4), pages 1239-1283, July.
    17. Pedro Carneiro & Sokbae Lee, 2011. "Trends in Quality-Adjusted Skill Premia in the United States, 1960-2000," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(6), pages 2309-2349, October.
    18. Donald R. Davis, 1996. "Trade Liberalization and Income Distribution," NBER Working Papers 5693, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Cartiglia, Filippo, 1997. "Credit constraints and human capital accumulation in the open economy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(1-2), pages 221-236, August.
    20. Roberto Bonfatti & Maitreesh Ghatak, 2010. "Trade and the Skill Premium Puzzle with Capital Market Imperfections," STICERD - Economic Organisation and Public Policy Discussion Papers Series 020, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
    21. Edmonds, Eric V. & Pavcnik, Nina, 2005. "The effect of trade liberalization on child labor," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 401-419, March.
    22. Revenga, Ana, 1997. "Employment and Wage Effects of Trade Liberalization: The Case of Mexican Manufacturing," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(3), pages 20-43, July.
    23. Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg & Nina Pavcnik, 2007. "Distributional Effects of Globalization in Developing Countries," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 45(1), pages 39-82, March.
    24. Ranjan, Priya, 2003. "Trade induced convergence through human capital accumulation in credit-constrained economies," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 139-162, October.
    25. Ranjan, Priya, 2001. "Dynamic evolution of income distribution and credit-constrained human capital investment in open economies," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 329-358, December.
    26. Chesnokova, Tatyana, 2007. "Immiserizing deindustrialization: A dynamic trade model with credit constraints," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 407-420, November.
    27. Cragg, Michael Ian & Epelbaum, Mario, 1996. "Why has wage dispersion grown in Mexico? Is it the incidence of reforms or the growing demand for skills?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 99-116, October.
    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. Nathalie Chusseau & Joël Hellier, 2012. "Globalisation and Inequality: Where do we stand?," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 21(3-4), pages 7-34, November.
    2. Andrea Moro & Peter Norman, 2019. "Endogenous Comparative Advantage," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 121(3), pages 1088-1124, July.
    3. Unel Bulent, 2015. "Human Capital Formation and International Trade," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 15(3), pages 1067-1092, July.
    4. Chakraborty, Pavel & Raveh, Ohad, 2018. "Input-trade liberalization and the demand for managers: Evidence from India," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 159-176.
    5. Issaka Dialga & Youmanli Ouoba, 2022. "How do extractive resources affect human development ? Evidence from a panel data analysis," Post-Print hal-04467781, HAL.
    6. Raveh, Ohad & Reshef, Ariell, 2016. "Capital imports composition, complementarities, and the skill premium in developing countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 183-206.
    7. Néstor A. Clech, 2025. "Macroeconomic and institutional determinants of human capital wealth: gender disparities and implications," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 42(1), pages 121-153, April.

    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. Roberto Bonfatti & Maitreesh Ghatak, 2010. "Trade and the Skill Premium Puzzle with Capital Market Imperfections," STICERD - Economic Organisation and Public Policy Discussion Papers Series 020, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
    2. Paolo Giordano & Kun Li, 2012. "An Updated Assessment of the Trade and Poverty Nexus in Latin America," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 79119, Inter-American Development Bank.
    3. Pinelopi K. Goldberg & Nina Pavcnik, 2004. "Trade, Inequality, and Poverty: What Do We Know? Evidence from Recent Trade Liberalization Episodes in Developing Countries," NBER Working Papers 10593, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. L. Alan Winters & Antonio Martuscelli, 2014. "Trade Liberalization and Poverty: What Have We Learned in a Decade?," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 493-512, October.
    5. Pavcnik, Nina & Goldberg, Pinelopi, 2016. "The Effects of Trade Policy," CEPR Discussion Papers 11104, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Muendler, Marc-Andreas, 2017. "Trade, technology, and prosperity: An account of evidence from a labor-market perspective," WTO Staff Working Papers ERSD-2017-15, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    7. Pranab Bardhan, 2006. "Globalization, Inequality, and Poverty," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 9126, Inter-American Development Bank.
    8. Nina Pavcnik, 2017. "The Impact of Trade on Inequality in Developing Countries," NBER Working Papers 23878, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Juhn, Chinhui & Ujhelyi, Gergely & Villegas-Sanchez, Carolina, 2014. "Men, women, and machines: How trade impacts gender inequality," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 179-193.
    10. Admasu Shiferaw & Degol Hailu, 2016. "Job creation and trade in manufactures: industry-level analysis across countries," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-36, December.
    11. Joël Hellier, 2013. "The North-South HOS Model, Inequality and Globalization," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Joël Hellier & Nathalie Chusseau (ed.), Growing Income Inequalities, chapter 4, pages 107-146, Palgrave Macmillan.
    12. Petia Topalova, 2010. "Factor Immobility and Regional Impacts of Trade Liberalization: Evidence on Poverty from India," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(4), pages 1-41, October.
    13. Yoshimichi Murakami, 2018. "Globalization and Income Inequality in Latin America: A Review of Theoretical Developments and Recent Evidence," Discussion Paper Series DP2018-16, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University, revised Aug 2018.
    14. Francesco Di Comite & Antonella Nocco & Gianluca Orefice, 2018. "Trade liberalization and the wage gap: the role of vertical linkages and fixed costs," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 154(1), pages 75-115, February.
    15. Zouhair Mrabet, 2012. "The Impact of Trade Liberalization on Labor Market of Developing Countries: What can Literature tell us?," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 4(6), pages 307-318.
    16. Alessandro Ruggieri, 2019. "Trade and labour market institutions: A tale of two liberalizations," Discussion Papers 2019-15, University of Nottingham, GEP.
    17. Brian McCaig & Nina Pavcnik, 2018. "Export Markets and Labor Allocation in a Low-Income Country," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(7), pages 1899-1941, July.
    18. Thierry Verdier, 2005. "Intégration commerciale « socialement responsable » : une approche en termes d'économie politique," Revue d’économie du développement, De Boeck Université, vol. 13(4), pages 55-121.
    19. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2020. "Aid for Trade flows and Wage Inequality in the manufacturing sector of recipient-countries," EconStor Preprints 213936, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    20. Oostendorp, Remco H. & Doan, Quang Hong, 2013. "Have the returns to education really increased in Vietnam? Wage versus employment effect," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 923-938.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Trade liberalization; Talent heterogeneity; Skill premium; Credit market frictions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance

    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:eee:inecon:v:89:y:2013:i:1:p:187-201. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505552 .

    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.