International trade and the relative dispersion of industrial wages and production techniques in 14 OECD countries, 1970–1985

The Factor Price Equalization theorem implies that freer trade would narrow the gap in returns to similar productive factors across countries over time. To determine the empirical relevance of this implication, data for 11 industries in 14 countries over the period 1970–1985 are investigated. Moreover, the paper examines the data for seven industries in the nontrade sector. Regression analyses suggest that the industry-level wages across countries are significantly influenced by the relative dispersion of production techniques at the industry level and, to a lesser extent, by international trade. The estimation of a wage model indicates that the diffusion of technology may have also played a role in the apparent convergence of wages. The findings of this paper suggest that FPE is capable of explaining the cross-country variation in returns to productive factors.