Free Trade and Wage Inequality in an Advanced Economy

This paper develops a formal model for examining the impact of free trade on the wage inequality in the Northern economy and the sensitivity of wage inequality indices to changes in causal factors within a general equilibrium setting.The model has three types of labor: sector-specific high-skilled, mobile unskilled and immobile unskilled labor. Thus, three types of wage inequality indices are derived. Selected comparative statics for changes in consumer expenditure shares, biased technological changes, changes in relative endowments are provided.     

外包与工资差距——基于工业行业数据的经验研究

本文首先检验了国际外包对我国熟练劳动力与非熟练劳动力工资差距的影响.计量结果表明,与斯托尔帕-萨缪尔逊定理所揭示的相反,外包贸易降低了我国相对丰裕的非熟练劳动力的相对工资.微电子设备的使用也加大了对熟练劳动力的需求,进一步加大熟练劳动力与非熟练劳动力的工资差距.为了检查是否是因为贸易形态的变化所导致的结果,我们进一步检...     

Occupational Segregation and Gender Wage Differentials: Evidence from Malaysia

In Malaysia, the participation of women in the labor market has increased over time. However, occupational segregation and wage differentials continue to be prevalent between men and women in the labor market. The present paper investigates gender‐related occupational segregation and wage differentials based on data collected from 7135 working households in Peninsular Malaysia in 2011. The wage decomposition model introduced by Brown et al. (1980) is used to examine the determinants of gender‐related wage differentials. The results suggest that differences within occupations account for the largest portion of the wage gap between men and women. The results also indicate that wage discrimination within occupations plays an important role in the gender wage gap, while sample selection bias plays an important role in the examination of gender wage gaps.     

Wage inequality dynamics and trade exposure in South Korea

South Korea has experienced a great U-turn in its inequality trends during the past few decades. In this paper, we explore the role of international trade in its wage inequality dynamics over the 1998–2012 period, using a unique household panel survey. Our analysis reveals that most of the overall wage inequality occurs within sectors and educational groups rather than between them. However, the share in total inequality of the “between” variation across sectors and educational groups has moderately increased over time. Furthermore, we document that almost the entire aggregate wage inequality in both manufacturing and services occurs within different trade-exposure categories rather than between them, and this pattern is persistent through time. These results suggest that international trade might not be the main driving force behind the rising wage dispersion in South Korea in the last two decades.     

Economic Growth and Income Inequality: Evidence from Dynamic Panel Investigation

This paper empirically investigates the effect of income inequality on economic growth using extended panel data covering a broad range of developing and developed countries. We use system generalized method of moments (GMM) techniques in a dynamic panel analysis, which alleviates the possible positive bias in difference GMM due to the persistence of lagged dependent variables as instruments. We find strong evidence of a negative effect on growth from income inequality, which contradicts the findings of Forbes [2000, September. A reassessment of the relationship between inequality and growth, American Economic Review, 90(4), pp. 869–887] and Li and Zou [1998, October. Income inequality is not harmful for growth: Theory and evidence, Review of Development Economics, 2(3), pp. 318–34]. Further analyses using combined Gini coefficients show that the difference can be overall attributed to the problem of omitted control variables and the differences in how the variations in inequality across countries are reflected. We also find that the negative effects of inequality on economic growth can be of great significance when using a sample of less developed countries or more recent inequality data set.     

贸易自由化对我国地区收入不平等的影响:来自中国的经验证据

文章基于协整的VAR模型从实证的角度研究了我国地区收入不平等与贸易自由化之间的长期均衡和短期动态关系。研究发现：（1）地区收入不平等、贸易自由化与经济增长之间存在长期均衡关系,贸易自由化和经济增长对于关注参数而言是弱外生变量;（2）贸易自由化在长期内减缓了我国地区收入不平等程度,但在短期内却导致了我国地区收入不平等程度的上升;（3）经济增长长期内趋于提高了我国地区收入不平等程度,但短期的影响方向不确定;（4）地区收入不平等是一个随机游走过程,不是一个含有结构突变的趋势平稳过程。     

Inequality in South Africa: The distribution of income,expenditure and earnings

This article empirically analyses the state of inequality in South Africa. International comparisons show South Africa to be among the most unequal countries in the world. The levels of income inequality and earnings inequality are analysed with a range of measures and methods. The results quantify the extremely high level of inequality in South Africa. Earnings inequality appears to be falling in recent years, with relative losses in the upper-middle parts of the earnings distribution. Decomposing income inequality by factor source reveals the importance of earnings in accounting for overall income inequality. The article concludes by observing that, internationally, significant sustained decreases in inequality rarely come about without policies aimed at achieving that, and suggests that strong policy interventions would be needed to reduce inequality in South Africa to levels that are in the range typically found internationally.     

Labour unions and wage inequality among African men in South Africa

One Achilles' heel of post-Apartheid South Africa is the growing intra-racial income inequality, particularly among Africans. This paper examines the role of labour unions in explaining this phenomenon among African men given that labour markets are at the core of income inequality in South Africa. Using cross-sectional data drawn from Labour Force Surveys for 2001–10, we find a monotonically declining union wage premium. Further, our results indicate that unions have both compressionary and disequalising effects on wages. The disequalising effect dominates the compressionary effect, suggesting that unions have a net effect of increasing wage inequality among African men in South Africa. This finding implies that there is scope for unions to reduce inequality through initiatives that promote wage compression.     

Occupational Segregation and its Effect on Estimates of the Gender Wage Differential: Evidence from Brunei

This paper investigates the impact of the different occupational distributions of the gender groups on the gender wage differential in Brunei. We disaggregate occupational differences into explained and unexplained portions as this can provide better estimates of across-occupation and within-occupation wage differentials. Using data from the Brunei 1995 Labor Force Survey report, results indicated that the gender wage difference is approximately 60%. Unlike other studies, it is found that in Brunei the unexplained portion of occupational segregation has had an impact on gender wage differentials and accounts for approximately one-third of the observed gap. Interestingly, the unexplained component of the within-occupation gap is relatively less than in some developed economies. This is attributed to the effects of the large public sector in Brunei and its regulated pay scales.     

Gender Difference in Returns to Education Independent of Gender Wage Gap in Korea*

This study examined the difference between male and female groups’ return on investment (ROI) in education independent of the average gender wage gap. Women’s additional ROI in education was significant and positively estimated. Furthermore, the ROI in women’s education was consistently higher than that in men regardless of educational stage, except for graduate education. These gender differences were greater in the younger generation than in the older generation and have decreased significantly in the recent ten years in high school education. Although the additional ROI in women’s education was positive in the field of culture and arts, education’s effect on wage increases in professional occupations was less than in men, especially in the fields of law and medicine. In addition, we show that gender differences in ROI in education were countercyclical. A base effect, large wage declines for low‐educated women during recessions, could explain this phenomenon. However, coinciding with the existence of positive cash flow news in the stock market that promises good business performance, a significant wage increase among highly educated women was found.     

Role of Individual Social Capital in Wage Determination: Evidence from China

The present study examines the role of individual‐level social capital in workers’ wage determination in a Nash‐bargaining wage model using Chinese micro‐level data. The study finds a significant contribution of individual‐specific social capital to the wage level. In particular, larger individual social networks and workers’ positive attitudes toward social capital significantly increase the wage level. Moreover, the effect of social capital on the wage level is much larger for men than for women. The results indicate that construction of individual social capital could increase workers’ wages. However, efforts are needed to reduce the unequal contributions of social capital between men and women.     

制造业的生产分割与工资收入差距:16个行业证据

利用1995～2007年中国16个制造行业的数据,并运用动态面板数据模型来探讨影响中国行业内工资收入差距的原因。研究发现,在国际生产分割条件下,中国制造业企业大量进口中间产品,利用相对低廉的劳动力进行加工和组装,并最终出口到发达国家。在这个过程中企业偏好高技能的劳动力,相应地,高技能劳动力工资收入比低技能劳动力增长的更快,国际生产分割扩大了行业内工资收入差距。企业的研发活动增加了高技能劳动力相对需求,对行业内工资收入差距扩大也有显著的正向影响,而且影响程度要高于其他因素。     

Wages and Wage Inequality in South Africa 1994–2011: Part 1 – Wage Measurement and Trends

We analyse the long‐term trends in wage inequality in South Africa, using household survey data. We show that the trends in household income inequality are largely driven by changes in wage inequality. Given the detailed nature of our series we show that measurement issues and breaks in the series need to be dealt with in order to draw robust conclusions from the data. Most standard inequality measures show that wage inequality has increased over the period. Nevertheless the choice of measure matters, because there are different trends in different parts of the distribution. It appears that the distribution below the median has become more compressed, while the top of the wage distribution has moved away from the median. The inequality in the labour market translates into even higher inequality in society given that high earners tend to live together with other high earners while low wage individuals often end up sharing their incomes with the unemployed. Furthermore there are many South Africans with access to no wage income. Given the trends analysed here it is not surprising that overall inequality in South Africa has not come down or has even increased since the end of apartheid.     

Wages and Wage Inequality in South Africa 1994–2011: Part 2 – Inequality Measurement and Trends

We analyse the long‐term trends in wage inequality in South Africa, using household survey data. We show that the trends in household income inequality are largely driven by changes in wage inequality. Given the detailed nature of our series we show that measurement issues and breaks in the series need to be dealt with in order to draw robust conclusions from the data. Most standard inequality measures show that wage inequality has increased over the period. Nevertheless the choice of measure matters, because there are different trends in different parts of the distribution. It appears that the distribution below the median has become more compressed, while the top of the wage distribution has moved away from the median. The inequality in the labour market translates into even higher inequality in society given that high earners tend to live together with other high earners while low wage individuals often end up sharing their incomes with the unemployed. Furthermore there are many South Africans with access to no wage income. Given the trends analysed here it is not surprising that overall inequality in South Africa has not come down or has even increased since the end of apartheid.     

E-commerce and Consumption Inequality in China

Consumption inequality may impede economic development and hinder the achievement of common prosperity. Using three waves of the China Family Panel Studies from 2014 to 2018, this paper investigated the impact of e-commerce on consumption inequality, as measured by the Kakwani index. The results indicate that e-commerce can reduce household consumption inequality. A mechanism analysis shows that e-commerce can narrow household income inequality, increase the purchasing power of low-income households, and promote the consumption of households with limited access to offline markets, thereby reducing the consumption gap. A heterogeneity analysis suggests that the positive role of e-commerce in reducing consumption inequality can be more significant among vulnerable households, such as households with elderly members and less-educated households. E-commerce can have varying impacts on consumption inequality across different subcategories of household expenditure, with the greatest impact seen in entertainment and education expenditure. These findings provide new evidence for the role of e-commerce in reducing consumption inequality in the digital economy, and the implications of this are discussed.