IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unm/umamer/1998006.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Determinants Of Sectoral Average Wage Growth Rates in a Specific Factors Model with International Capital Movements: The Case of Cobb-Douglas Production Functions

Author

Listed:
  • De Loo, Ivo
  • Ziesemer, Thomas

    (MERIT)

Abstract

The cost-minimization part of a specific factors model with perfect capital movements and both perfect and imperfect competition is used here to explain the growth rate of wages as a function of technical change, terms of trade changes, interest rate changes and the growth rate of the labour supply. Our estimation of the perfect competition model for 67 combinations of countries and sectors yields the result that technical change explains a higher percentage of wage growth than changes in the terms of trade do before the 1980s. From the 1980s onwards international trade is slightly more influential than technical progress. Much more important than these two are changes in the sector specific labour supply in all countries but the UK. In the UK terms of trade changes matter most. However, since we cannot exclude increasing returns, a model with imperfect competition is also estimated. Besides a confirmation of the strong results for labour, evidence of increasing returns is found in especially the Netherlands and the US. Almost no evidence hereof is found in Germany and the UK. Finally we consider policy conclusions.

Suggested Citation

  • De Loo, Ivo & Ziesemer, Thomas, 1998. "Determinants Of Sectoral Average Wage Growth Rates in a Specific Factors Model with International Capital Movements: The Case of Cobb-Douglas Production Functions," Research Memorandum 006, Maastricht University, Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    • Handle: RePEc:unm:umamer:1998006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/rmpdf/removed.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:fth:harver:1473 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Ronald Jones, 1970. "The Role of Technology in the Theory of International Trade," NBER Chapters, in: The Technology Factor in International Trade, pages 73-94, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Zvi Griliches, 1998. "Patent Statistics as Economic Indicators: A Survey," NBER Chapters, in: R&D and Productivity: The Econometric Evidence, pages 287-343, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Schankerman, Mark, 1981. "The Effects of Double-Counting and Expensing on the Measured Returns to R&D," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 63(3), pages 454-458, August.
    5. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    6. Scherer, F. M., 1983. "The propensity to patent," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 107-128, March.
    7. J. David Richardson, 1995. "Income Inequality and Trade: How to Think, What to Conclude," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 33-55, Summer.
    8. Edward E. Leamer, 1994. "Trade, Wages and Revolving Door Ideas," NBER Working Papers 4716, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Bovenberg, A.L., 1995. "Environmental taxation and employment," Other publications TiSEM db57f00b-741a-483d-a01b-6, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    10. Richard B. Freeman, 1995. "Are Your Wages Set in Beijing?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 15-32, Summer.
    11. Leamer, Edward E, 1996. "Wage Inequality from International Competition and Technological Change: Theory and Country Experience," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(2), pages 309-314, May.
    12. Granger, C W J, 1969. "Investigating Causal Relations by Econometric Models and Cross-Spectral Methods," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 37(3), pages 424-438, July.
    13. Francois, Joseph F, 1996. "Trade, Labour Force Growth and Wages," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 106(439), pages 1586-1609, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. De Loo, Ivo & Ziesemer, Thomas, 1999. "Determinants Of Sectoral Average Wage and Employment Growth Rates in a Specific Factors Model with Production Externalities and International Capital Movements," Research Memorandum 006, Maastricht University, Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    2. Lücke, Matthias, 1997. "European trade with lower-income countries and the relative wages of the unskilled: an exploratory analysis for West Germany and the UK," Kiel Working Papers 819, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    3. Steven Saeger, 1997. "Globalization and deindustrialization: Myth and reality in the OECD," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 133(4), pages 579-608, December.
    4. Chiquiar, Daniel, 2008. "Globalization, regional wage differentials and the Stolper-Samuelson Theorem: Evidence from Mexico," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 70-93, January.
    5. Jorge Saba Arbache, 2001. "Trade Liberalisation and Labor Markets in Developing Countries: Theory and Evidence," Studies in Economics 0112, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    6. Carsten Ochsen & Heinz Welsch, 2005. "Technology, Trade, and Income Distribution in West Germany: A Factor-Share Analysis, 1976–1994," Journal of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(2), pages 321-345, November.
    7. Eva Katalin Polgar & Julia Woerz, 2011. "Trade With Central and Eastern Europe: Is It Really a Threat to Wages in the West?," DANUBE: Law and Economics Review, European Association Comenius - EACO, issue 1, pages 1-31, March.
    8. Bernhard Heitger & Jürgen Stehn, 2003. "Trade, Technical Change, and Labour Market Adjustment," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(10), pages 1481-1502, November.
    9. Peter Gottschalk & Timothy Smeeding, 1995. "Cross National Comparisons of Levels and Trends in Inequality," LIS Working papers 126, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    10. John T. Addison & Douglas A. Fox & Christopher J. Ruhm, 2000. "Technology, Trade Sensitivity, and Labor Displacement," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 66(3), pages 682-699, January.
    11. Eckhard Janeba, 2000. "Trade, Income Inequality, and Government Policies: Redistribution of Income or Education Subsidies?," NBER Working Papers 7485, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Guerriero, Marta & Sen, Kunal, 2012. "What Determines the Share of Labour in National Income? A Cross-Country Analysis," IZA Discussion Papers 6643, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. John T. Addison & Douglas A. Fox & Christopher J. Ruhm, 1996. "Trade Sensitivity, Technology, and Labor Displacement," NBER Working Papers 5621, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Jaegul Lee & Nicholas Berente, 2012. "Digital Innovation and the Division of Innovative Labor: Digital Controls in the Automotive Industry," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(5), pages 1428-1447, October.
    15. Mabrouki, Mohamed, 2017. "Brevet d’invention et croissance économique : une analyse dans le cadre de l’économie tunisienne durant la période 1970 - 2010 [Patent of invention and economic growth: an analysis within the frame," MPRA Paper 80485, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Lücke, Matthias, 1999. "Sectoral value added prices, TFP growth, and the low-skilled wage in high-income countries," Kiel Working Papers 923, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    17. Baldwin, John R. & Raffiquzzaman, Mohammed, 1998. "The Effect of Technology and Trade on Wage Differentials Between Nonproduction and Production Workers in Canadian Manufacturing," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 1998098e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    18. Edward Wolff, 2006. "The growth of information workers in the US economy, 1950-2000: the role of technological change, computerization, and structural change," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(3), pages 221-255.
    19. Stéphane Guimbert & François Lévy-Bruhl, 2002. "La situation de l'emploi en France face aux échanges internationaux," Économie et Prévision, Programme National Persée, vol. 152(1), pages 189-206.
    20. David Rigby & Sebastien Breau, 2006. "Impacts of Trade on Wage Inequality in Los Angeles: Analysis Using Matched Employer-Employee Data," Working Papers 06-12, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    labour economics ;

    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:unm:umamer:1998006. 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: Leonne Portz (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/meritnl.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.