IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/edj/ceauch/67.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Income distribution and Trade Liberalization

Author

Listed:
  • Ronald Fischer

Abstract

The paper presents a general framework for the analysis of the evolution of personal income distribution following trade liberalization. The model allows many factors of production and the possibility of capital gains. In this framework, the short run evolution of inequality depends on the wage to wealth ratio, while changes in the interest rate determine the changes in long run inequality. The general frame-work is applied to the dynamic specific factors model of Eaton (1987). In this model the land-labor ratio determines whether a country exports the land-using or the capital-using good in the long run. The type of the export good determines the effects of liberalization on inequality. In land (labor) abundant countries, inequalities increase (decrease) along the dynamic path. The model provides an explanation for the differences between Latin American and Asian countries in their response to trade liberalization. Econometric analysis provide mixed results for these predictions, with the correctsigns but non-significant coefficients for the coefficient on the interaction between openness and the land-labor ratio.

Suggested Citation

  • Ronald Fischer, 1999. "Income distribution and Trade Liberalization," Documentos de Trabajo 67, Centro de Economía Aplicada, Universidad de Chile.
    • Handle: RePEc:edj:ceauch:67
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.cea-uchile.cl/wp-content/uploads/doctrab/ASOCFILE120030402113335.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Abhijit V. Banerjee & Andrew F. Newman, 1991. "Risk-Bearing and the Theory of Income Distribution," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 211-235.
    2. Judd, Kenneth L., 1985. "The law of large numbers with a continuum of IID random variables," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 19-25, February.
    3. Barro, Robert J, 1974. "Are Government Bonds Net Wealth?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(6), pages 1095-1117, Nov.-Dec..
    4. Karni, Edi & Zilcha, Itzhak, 1995. "Technological Progress and Income Inequality," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 5(2), pages 277-294, March.
    5. Oded Galor & Joseph Zeira, 1993. "Income Distribution and Macroeconomics," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 60(1), pages 35-52.
    6. Spilimbergo, Antonio & Londono, Juan Luis & Szekely, Miguel, 1999. "Income distribution, factor endowments, and trade openness," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 77-101, June.
    7. Edwards, Sebastian, 1997. "Trade Policy, Growth, and Income Distribution," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(2), pages 205-210, May.
    8. Jeffrey D. Sachs & Andrew Warner, 1995. "Economic Reform and the Process of Global Integration," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 26(1, 25th A), pages 1-118.
    9. Leamer, Edward E. & Maul, Hugo & Rodriguez, Sergio & Schott, Peter K., 1999. "Does natural resource abundance increase Latin American income inequality?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 3-42, June.
    10. Francisco Rodríguez & Dani Rodrik, 2001. "Trade Policy and Economic Growth: A Skeptic's Guide to the Cross-National Evidence," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2000, Volume 15, pages 261-338, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Jonathan Eaton, 1987. "A Dynamic Specific-Factors Model of International Trade," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 54(2), pages 325-338.
    12. J. Peter Neary, 1985. "International Factor Mobility, Minimum Wage Rates, and Factor-Price Equalization: A Synthesis," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 100(3), pages 551-570.
    13. Fischer, Ronald D, 1992. "Income Distribution in the Dynamic Two-Factor Trade Model," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 59(234), pages 221-233, May.
    14. Richard A. Brecher, 1974. "Minimum Wage Rates and the Pure Theory of International Trade," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 88(1), pages 98-116.
    15. Feldman, Mark & Gilles, Christian, 1985. "An expository note on individual risk without aggregate uncertainty," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 26-32, February.
    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. Fischer, Ronald D., 2001. "The evolution of inequality after trade liberalization," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 555-579, 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. Fischer, Ronald D., 2001. "The evolution of inequality after trade liberalization," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 555-579, December.
    2. Dollar, David & Kraay, Aart, 2002. "Growth Is Good for the Poor," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 195-225, September.
    3. Sylvain Chabe-Ferret & Julien Gourdon & Mohamed Ali Marouani & Tancrède Voituriez, 2007. "Trade-Induced Changes in Economic Inequality: Assessment Issues and Policy Implications for Developing Countries," Working Papers DT/2007/11, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    4. Isabelle Bensidoun & Sébastien Jean & Aude Sztulman, 2011. "International trade and income distribution: reconsidering the evidence," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 147(4), pages 593-619, November.
    5. repec:dau:papers:123456789/4212 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Bergh, Andreas & Nilsson, Therese, 2010. "Do liberalization and globalization increase income inequality?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 488-505, December.
    7. Fischer, Ronald D, 1992. "Income Distribution in the Dynamic Two-Factor Trade Model," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 59(234), pages 221-233, May.
    8. Xiaodong Lu & Guowei Cai, 2011. "Effective factor endowments, trade openness and income distribution in China," Frontiers of Economics in China, Springer;Higher Education Press, vol. 6(2), pages 188-210, June.
    9. Wei-Bin Zhang, 2014. "National and International Inequalities in Income and Wealth in a Global Growth with Free Trade and National Inflation Policies," Global Economic Observer, "Nicolae Titulescu" University of Bucharest, Faculty of Economic Sciences;Institute for World Economy of the Romanian Academy, vol. 2(1), pages 22-40, May.
    10. Mr. Andrew Berg & Anne O. Krueger, 2003. "Trade, Growth, and Poverty: A Selective Survey," IMF Working Papers 2003/030, International Monetary Fund.
    11. Johansson, Anders C. & Wang, Xun, 2014. "Financial sector policies and income inequality," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 367-378.
    12. Grossmann, Volker, 2008. "Risky human capital investment, income distribution, and macroeconomic dynamics," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 19-42, March.
    13. Muhammad Zakaria & Bashir Ahmed Fida, 2016. "Trade openness and income inequality in China and the SAARC Region," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 30(2), pages 33-44, November.
    14. Manuel Oechslin, 2009. "Creditor protection and the dynamics of the distribution in oligarchic societies," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 313-344, December.
    15. Giordano, Paolo & Li, Kun, 2012. "An Updated Assessment of the Trade and Poverty Nexus in Latin America," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 4209, Inter-American Development Bank.
    16. Mauro Caselli, 2012. "Does wealth inequality reduce the gains from trade?," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 148(2), pages 333-356, June.
    17. Eduardo Lora & Ugo Panizza, 2002. "Structural Reforms in Latin America under Scrutiny," Research Department Publications 4301, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    18. De Gregorio, Jose & Kim, Se-Jik, 2000. "Credit Markets with Differences in Abilities: Education, Distribution, and Growth," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 41(3), pages 579-607, August.
    19. Josef Falkinger & Volker Grossmann, 2005. "Institutions and Development: The Interaction Between Trade Regime and Political System," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 231-272, September.
    20. Jean‐Marie Viaene & Itzhak Zilcha, 2009. "Human Capital and Inequality Dynamics: The Role of Education Technology," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 76(304), pages 760-778, October.
    21. 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.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:edj:ceauch:67. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ceuclcl.html .

    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.