A North-South Agent–Based Model of segmented labor markets: the role of education and trade asymmetries

Drawing upon the labour-augmented K+S Agent-Based Model (ABM), this paper develops a two-country North-South ABM wherein the leader and the laggard country interact through the international trade of machines. The model aims to address sources of asymmetries and possible converge patterns between two economies belonging to a currency union, that are initially differentiated only in terms of the education level they are able to ensure. Education is modeled as a macro-level public policy differently targeting three levels, that is primary, secondary and tertiary. After being educated, when workers enter the labour force, they face a segmented labour market, divided into three types of qualifications and resulting functions deployed inside firms, i.e., basic, medium and advanced occupations. The three markets are heterogeneous in terms of both requested education level and minimum offered wage. We experiment with different education and trade settings. Ultimately, we are interested in understanding the coupling effects of asymmetries in education, which reverberate in segmented labour markets and differentiated growth patterns. Notably, our focus on capital-goods trade, rather than on consumption goods, allows us to investigate a direct link between productive capabilities in complex products and country growth prospects.