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Too Much of a Good Thing? Labor Market Imperfections as a Source of Exceptional Exporter Performance

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  • Carsten Eckel
  • Stephen R. Yeaple

Abstract

Ex-post firm heterogeneity can result from different strategies to overcome labor market imperfections by ex-ante identical firms—with far-reaching consequences for the welfare effects of trade. With asymmetric information about workers’ abilities and costly screening, in equilibrium some firms screen and pay wages based on the true productivity of their workers, and some firms do not screen and pay wages based on the average productivity of their workforce. Screening firms are larger, attract better workers and pay lower effective wages. This results in excessive consumption of resources by large firms relative to the social optimum. Trade liberalization then has an ambiguous effect on aggregate welfare: lower trade costs improve access to foreign goods but also exacerbate the labor market distortion as more resources are transferred to large firms. The model highlights the need to know why firms “excel” before drawing welfare conclusions regarding cross firm reallocations of resources.

Suggested Citation

  • Carsten Eckel & Stephen R. Yeaple, 2017. "Too Much of a Good Thing? Labor Market Imperfections as a Source of Exceptional Exporter Performance," NBER Working Papers 23834, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23834
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F1 - International Economics - - Trade
    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J42 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Monopsony; Segmented Labor Markets

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