Regional Efficiency Wages: Are They a Source of Real Earnings Differentials?

This paper investigates the role of spatial efficiency wage premiums as a partial explanation for both inter-industry and geographic wage differentials. The empirical approach is based on an analysis of panel data for six select manufacturing industries operating within specific (U.S.) states. Besides testing for the existence of a regional "wage curve," this research adds to the evidence on traditional determinants of spatial wage differentials. An explicit treatment of regional cost-of-living conditions is unique to the analysis; also, industry wage structures are accounted for in explaining regional wage differences. The findings here contribute to an initial body of evidence on regional efficiency wages. The empirical evidence indicates that the relationship between regional wages (nominal or real) and the local unemployment rate is much more complex than implied by the wage curve.     

Wage differentials in the presence of unobserved worker,firm, and match heterogeneity

We consider the problem of estimating and decomposing wage differentials in the presence of unobserved worker, firm, and match heterogeneity. Controlling for these unobservables corrects omitted variable bias in previous studies. It also allows us to measure the contribution of unmeasured characteristics of workers, firms, and worker-firm matches to observed wage differentials. An application to linked employer-employee data shows that decompositions of inter-industry earnings differentials and the male-female differential are misleading when unobserved heterogeneity is ignored.     

The relationship between trade,FDI and economic growth in Tunisia: An application of the autoregressive distributed lag model

The relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI), trade openness and economic growth in host countries remains one of the most important issues in the economic literature and met with renewed interest in recent years mainly for countries suffering from unemployment problems and lack of technological progress. This paper examines this issue for Tunisia by applying the bounds testing (ARDL) approach to cointegration for the period from 1970 to 2008. The bounds tests suggest that the variables of interest are bound together in the long run when foreign direct investment is the dependent variable. The associated equilibrium correction is also significant, confirming the existence of a long-run relationship. The results also indicate that there is no significant Granger causality from FDI to economic growth, from economic growth to FDI, from trade to economic growth and from economic growth to trade in the short run. Even though there is a widespread belief that FDI can generate positive spillover externalities for the host country, our empirical results fail to confirm this belief for the case of Tunisia. They go against the generally accepted idea considering the positive impact of FDI on economic growth to be automatic. The results found for Tunisia can be generalized and compared to other developing countries which share a common experience in attracting FDI and trade liberalization.     

Wage inequality and the role of multinationals: evidence from UK panel data

Despite the increased attention on the impacts of globalisation, there has been little empirical investigation into the impact of multinational firms on the domestic labour market and in particular wage inequality, this is in spite of a rapid increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) at around the same time of rising inequality. Using UK panel data, this paper tests whether inward flows of FDI have contributed to increasing wage inequality. Even after controlling for the two most common explanations of wage inequality, technology and trade, we find that FDI has a significant effect upon wage inequality, with the overall impact of FDI explaining on average 11% of wage inequality.     

中韩产业内分工和贸易状况分析

文章对我国与韩国之间的贸易现状和趋势进行分析,计算中韩近年来的产业内贸易指数,发现了在过去12年间,中韩贸易发展迅速,贸易额有了大幅度提高,贸易结构不断变化,工业产品贸易占主要份额,工业产品贸易中产业内贸易正逐渐取代产业间贸易而成为中韩贸易发展的一个趋势,中韩贸易结构正处于产业内贸易和产业间贸易平分秋色的时期。     

TRADE LIBERALIZATION,LABOR DEMAND SHIFTS AND EARNINGS INEQUALITY IN SINGAPORE

This article investigates the relative wage between skilled and low skilled labor in a small open economy with traditionally few labor market rigidities. It looks at the role of relative skills demand and supply in determining skills premium and explores the extent to which trade liberalization affects the skills wage gap. Indications are that greater openness is linked to higher labor demand elasticity and/or technological progress. The evidence also suggests that rapid acceleration in labor demand for skills and trade liberalization has widened the wage gap between skilled and low skilled labor. This result persists regardless of industry type.     

贸易开放是否影响了中国产业结构升级？

研究目标：探讨贸易开放是否影响了中国产业结构升级。研究方法：利用2003～2014年省际面板数据,采用中介效应检验方法。研究发现：贸易开放在加快产业结构整体优化的同时还有助于服务业与工业内部行业的变革。同时,贸易开放可以借助增加物质资本积累、刺激消费需求、提升技术进步、促进制度变革等方式间接加速产业结构整体升级和产业结构高级化发展。加工贸易对产业结构升级的促进力度小于非加工贸易,东部地区对产业结构升级的促进力度大于中西部地区,欧美发达国家对产业结构升级的促进力度大于东亚发达国家。研究创新：深入探讨了贸易开放影响产业结构升级的理论机制,并从产业间与产业内视角构建多维产业结构升级指数检验贸易开放对产业结构升级的影响。研究价值：有利于缩小贸易区域差异以及环境承载力差异对产业结构升级的影响,为实现产业转型升级提供科学决策依据。     

Trade integration in the European Union: Openness,interconnectedness, and distance

This article presents a set of indicators to measure regional trade integration, focusing on the case of the European Union. We propose measures of openness, connectedness and integration which are tuned to evaluate not only how these components contribute to the advance of international integration, but also to control for the potential threat posed by the proliferation of regional trade agreements to trade globalization. Although this and related questions have been examined from several perspectives, the present article explicitly attempts to quantify how regional trade agreements either intensify or thwart trade globalization. Results show that the process of trade integration has intensified among European Union members, whereas integration with non-members is advancing slowly. Our indicators provide a more complete view of the differing speeds of integration, which depend on whether the component of integration considered is openness or connectedness.     

FDI and trade—Two-way linkages?

We investigate the intertemporal linkages between foreign direct investment and disaggregated measures of international trade. We outline a model exemplifying these linkages, describe methods for investigating two-way feedbacks between various categories of trade, and apply them to recent data. We find that the strongest feedback between the sub-accounts is between FDI and manufacturing trade. For the first time, we decompose causality using Geweke's [Geweke, J. (1982). Measurement of linear dependence and feedback between multiple time series. Journal of the American Statistical Association 77(378), 304–313] decomposition method. We find that most of the linear feedback between trade and FDI can be accounted for by Granger-causality from FDI gross flows to trade openness (50%) and from trade to FDI (31%).     

A Meta‐Analysis of the International Gender Wage Gap

Abstract.  Since the early 1970s, a number of authors have calculated gender wage differentials between women and men of equal productivity. This meta‐study provides a new quantitative review of this vast amount of empirical literature on gender wage differentials as it concerns not only differences in methodology, data, and time periods, but also different countries. We place particular emphasis on a proper consideration of the quality of the underlying study which is done by a weighting with quality indicators. The results show that data restrictions – i.e. the limitation of the analysis to new entrants, never‐marrieds, or one narrow occupation only – have the biggest impact on the resulting gender wage gap. Moreover, we are able to show what effect a misspecification of the underlying wage equation – like the frequent use of potential experience – has on the calculated gender wage gap. Over time, raw wage differentials worldwide have fallen substantially; however, most of this decrease is due to better labor market endowments of females.     

The pervasive absence of compensating differentials

We study the relation between individual preferences for job amenities (e.g., type of work, job security) and compensating wage differentials in cross‐section. To this end, we estimate a partial equilibrium job search model on panel data from eight European countries. There are five non‐wage job characteristics and two sources of job‐to‐job mobility: on‐the‐job search and reallocation shocks. We also allow for two types of unobserved heterogeneity. We find strong preferences for amenities, especially job security, yet, these preferences do not translate into significant wage differentials in cross‐section. Counterfactual experiments show that one would need extremely low levels of search frictions for compensating differentials to arise. Lastly, a similar exercise on the distribution of job change outcomes reveals the role of constrained job‐to‐job mobility in the absence of compensating wage differentials. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wage-setting institutions as industrial policy

Centralized wage-setting arrangements compress wage differentials along many dimensions, but how do they affect employment structure? To address this issue, we relate the evolution of US–Swedish differences in the industry distribution of employment to relative wages between and within industries. We find that centralized wage setting shifted Swedish employment away from industries with high wage dispersion among workers, a high mean wage and, especially, a low mean wage. The dissolution of Sweden's centralized wage-setting beginning in 1983 led to widening wage differentials and a reversal in the evolution of US–Swedish differences in industry structure.     

Inter‐industry Wage Differences and Individual Heterogeneity*

Two well‐established findings are apparent in the analyses of individual wage determination: cross‐section wage equations can account for less than half of the variance in earnings and there are large and persistent inter‐industry wage differentials. We explore these two empirical regularities using longitudinal data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS). We show that around 90% of the variation in earnings can be explained by observed and unobserved individual characteristics. However, small – but statistically significant – industry wage premia do remain, and there is also a role for a rich set of job and workplace controls.     

FDI对我国高新技术产业发展的影响

在我国高新技术产业迅猛发展的过程中,FDI发挥着举足轻重的作用。但是,FDI对于高新技术产业中不同行业的贡献差距较大。C-D函数实证检验结果表明,FDI对我国高新技术产业整体发展影响显著。电子计算机及办公设备制造业FDI溢出系数较高;电子及通信设备制造业与整个行业持平;而航空航天器制造业FDI技术溢出系数较低。此外,外资的技术投入、行业开放程度、内外资企业技术差距等因素影响FDI的技术外溢水平。     

The Central Government-Private Sector Wage Differential

Since Ehrenberg and Schwarz (1986) there has been a plethora of articles investigating the relationship between public and private sector wages. This article examines part of this post 1986 literature by reviewing articles that examine central government-private sector wage differentials. In sum, most articles find that there is a premium paid to central government workers, although the premium has declined in recent years. In developing countries, however, the differential is usually negative. Women and minorities tend to do better in the public sector relative to their private sector counterparts. The evidence on union premiums between sectors is mixed, although the premium tends to be higher in the private sector. However public sector union workers do not do much better than private sector union members. The magnitude of all of the wage differentials discussed are sensitive to the estimation technique and data source used. The most common explanation for the public sector wage premium is economic rent accruing to government workers, although the public sector wage determination literature suggests that the differential is due to returns to political and 'vote producing' activities not relevant in the private sector.     

A spatial analysis of inward FDI and urban–rural wage inequality in China

This article investigates the spatial effect of inward foreign direct investment (FDI) on urban–rural wage inequality, both in the short and long run, by employing the Spatial Durbin Model. In particular, we carefully consider the heterogeneity of inward FDI with respect to its entry mode (ownership type) and sectoral distribution. Based on a panel dataset covering 30 provinces and cities in China from 2000 to 2016, our results show that inward FDI does not increase urban–rural wage inequality. In particular, we do not find a significant relationship between inward FDI in the secondary and tertiary sectors, while inward FDI in the primary sector has a slightly negative effect on inequality. When we consider inward FDI by entry mode, we find that wholly foreign-owned enterprises (WFE) have a negative spatial effect on urban–rural wage inequality in the short and long run, while equity joint ventures (EJV) reduce urban–rural inequality in the long run only.     

Sino-Indian Liberalization: The Role of Trade and Foreign Investment

Two major factors account for a country’s growing integration with the global economy: trade and foreign investment; expansion of exports, and foreign direct investment (FDI). Growth of exports became a dominant source of industrial growth during the 1980s in most developing countries (see Helleiner, 1995). Most of these countries including China and India, have replaced the old import-substitution policy by an export promotion strategy. Both domestic and international factors played an important role in the shift of national policies to repay debts. The process of globalization already underway necessitated export orientation for improving technology, management practices, marketing and international competitiveness. This paper aims at exploring the contributions of exports and FDI to growth and economic liberalization in China and lndia. The first section briefly reviews similarities and differences in the two economies. The second section deals with growth, composition and direction of foreign trade. The third section examines the role of FDI, and its sources and composition by sector, industry, and by overseas ethnic Chinese and Indians. Trade and FDI linkages are examined in the fourth section which also contains a brief case study of Guangdong (China). This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

中美水产品产业内贸易实证分析

从1998年到2012年,中美双边水产品贸易快速发展。文章运用G-L指数,Bruelhart指数和Thom&McDowell水平、垂直产业内贸易指数,采用联合国贸易数据库(UN COMTRADE)的数据,对中美水产品产业内贸易进行实证分析。结果表明,中美水产品产业内贸易水平较低,贸易的增长主要来源于产业间贸易;从两国的产业内贸易结构看,垂直型产业内贸易占优势。因此,中美水产品产业内贸易的发展应从增加水产品贸易的差异化;推动水产品加工技术创新等方面着手。     

Wage determination in late socialism: The case of Poland

Does economic transition necessitate a profound change in the inter-industry wage structure? This paper argues that principles of wage determination in centrally planned economies were not basically different from those prevailing in market economies. Even if the center became involved in wage setting, reward for human capital and the compensating differential had to be taken into consideration. Moreover, market power led to rent-sharing via wage bargaining and efficiency wages. Hence, this paper claims that wages in socialist economies were determined by similar factors to those in market economies. This is supported by comparison of inter-industry wage structures between socialist and capitalist countries and by results of the estimation of the wage equation for Poland. There is a noticeable degree of similarity in wage structures generated by both systems.I started this paper when I was a research visitor at the Centre of Economic Performance, London School of Economics and completed it when I was a visiting fellow at Princeton University. While at Princeton University I was financed as a Fulbright Fellow.I am grateful to David Card, Hartmut Lehmann, Marcus Rubin, Mark Schaffer and an anonymous referee for their helpful comments and suggestions. I also wish to thank the participants of the seminars at the Industrial Relations Section of Princeton University and at the University of Maryland for useful discussion. The usual disclaimer applies.     

Trade Liberalization and Industrial Restructuring: The Role of Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions

This paper analyzes industry adjustments to trade liberalization. It introduces cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) as an alternative mode of industrial restructuring to firms' exit. In a two-country Cournot model, we examine the responses of domestic and foreign firms endowed with different technologies for different stages of trade openness. It is found that the less efficient firm loses market shares in its home market at the beginning of trade liberalization. Only for a more advanced level of liberalization, does it take advantage of a larger access to foreign demand. Trade liberalization may therefore harm its profits too strongly, forcing it to leave the market. However, although its incentives decrease with trade liberalization, the high-technology firm may be willing to take it over for low organizational and technological costs of firms' integration. In addition, it may buy it out even if the less efficient firm manages to stay. Then, trade liberalization affects M&A incentives depending on the technological gap. For low and high (medium) gap, there is an inverted U- (W-) shaped relation between trade costs and incentives to merge. Moreover, although technology transfer is assumed to be complete, M&A may lead to a reduction in consumers' welfare. Firms may capture some pro-competitive gains from economic openness. Lastly, an empirical analysis based on a data set of OECD members' multinationals gives some support to these theoretical predictions.