Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/car/carecp/08-07.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Unemployment of Skilled and Unskilled Labor in an Open Economy: International Trade, Migration, and Outsourcing

Author

Abstract
We show how international trade, migration and outsourcing affect unemployment of skilled and unskilled labor, in a framework that integrates the Heckscher-Ohlin model of trade with the Shapiro-Stiglitz model of unemployment. Our approach allows us to analyze changes in not only aggregate unemployment, but also the distribution of unemployment between skilled and unskilled labor. As the analysis demonstrates, the unemployment rates of these two types of labor often move in opposite directions, thereby dampening the change in aggregate unemployment. Results depend on the source of comparative advantage, based on international differences in (for example) unemployment insurance or production technology.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Brecher & Zhiqi Chen, 2008. "Unemployment of Skilled and Unskilled Labor in an Open Economy: International Trade, Migration, and Outsourcing," Carleton Economic Papers 08-07, Carleton University, Department of Economics, revised Nov 2010.
    • Handle: RePEc:car:carecp:08-07
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.carleton.ca/economics/wp-content/uploads/cep08-07.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Matusz, Steven J, 1998. "Calibrating the Employment Effects of Trade," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(4), pages 592-603, November.
    2. Davidson, Carl & Matusz, Steven J. & Shevchenko, Andrei, 2008. "Outsourcing Peter To Pay Paul: High-Skill Expectations And Low-Skill Wages With Imperfect Labor Markets," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(4), pages 463-479, September.
    3. Kimball, Miles S, 1994. "Labor-Market Dynamics When Unemployment is a Worker Discipline Device," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(4), pages 1045-1059, September.
    4. repec:bla:reviec:v:10:y:2002:i:3:p:404-23 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Adrian Wood, 1997. "How Trade Hurt Unskilled Workers," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Jitendralal Borkakoti & Chris Milner (ed.), International Trade and Labour Markets, chapter 7, pages 140-168, Palgrave Macmillan.
    6. Krugman, Paul R, 1993. "What Do Undergrads Need to Know about Trade?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(2), pages 23-26, May.
    7. Mitra, Devashish & Ranjan, Priya, 2007. "Offshoring and Unemployment," IZA Discussion Papers 2805, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Carl Davidson & Steven J. Matusz, 2004. "International Trade and Labor Markets: Theory, Evidence, and Policy Implications," Books from Upjohn Press, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, number itlm, November.
    9. Jagdish Bhagwati & Arvind Panagariya, 2004. "The Muddles over Outsourcing," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(4), pages 93-114, Fall.
    10. Richard A. Brecher & Ehsan U. Choudhri, 1982. "Immiserizing Investment from Abroad: The Singer-Prebisch Thesis Reconsidered," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 97(1), pages 181-189.
    11. Ronald W. Jones, 2018. "The Structure of Simple General Equilibrium Models," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: International Trade Theory and Competitive Models Features, Values, and Criticisms, chapter 4, pages 61-84, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    12. Copeland, Brian R., 1989. "Efficiency wages in a Ricardian model of international trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(3-4), pages 221-244, November.
    13. Mussa, Michael, 1993. "Making the Practical Case for Freer Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(2), pages 372-376, May.
    14. Wood Júnior, Thomaz, 1995. "Workers," RAE - Revista de Administração de Empresas, FGV-EAESP Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo (Brazil), vol. 35(2), March.
    15. Richard A. Breche & Zhiqi Chen & Ehsan U. Choudhri, 2002. "Unemployment and Growth in the Long Run: An Efficiency-Wage Model with Optimal Savings," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 43(3), pages 875-894, August.
    16. Wolfgang F. Stolper & Paul A. Samuelson, 1941. "Protection and Real Wages," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 9(1), pages 58-73.
    17. Davis, Donald R, 1998. "Does European Unemployment Prop Up American Wages? National Labor Markets and Global Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 478-494, June.
    18. Brecher, Richard A. & Choudhri, Ehsan U., 1987. "International migration versus foreign investment in the presence of unemployment," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(3-4), pages 329-342, November.
    19. Hian Hoon, 1994. "The impact of intraindustry trade on the natural rate of unemployment in two simple models," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 29-46, March.
    20. Richard A. Brecher, 1974. "Minimum Wage Rates and the Pure Theory of International Trade," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 88(1), pages 98-116.
    21. Richard A. Brecher & Zhiqi Chen & Ehsan Choudhri, 2007. "Optimal Taxation in a Dynamic Model of Shirking and Unemployment: Shapiro and Stiglitz Meet Chamley," Carleton Economic Papers 07-07, Carleton University, Department of Economics, revised Aug 2010.
    22. Brecher, Richard A., 1992. "An efficiency-wage model with explicit monitoring : Unemployment and welfare in an open economy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-2), pages 179-191, February.
    23. Nickell, Stephen & Bell, Brian, 1995. "The Collapse in Demand for the Unskilled and Unemployment across the OECD," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 11(1), pages 40-62, Spring.
    24. Shapiro, Carl & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1984. "Equilibrium Unemployment as a Worker Discipline Device," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(3), pages 433-444, June.
    25. Ronald Findlay & Harry Grubert, 1959. "Factor Intensities, Technological Progress, And The Terms Of Trade," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 111-121.
    26. Brecher, Richard A., 1974. "Optimal commercial policy for a minimum-wage economy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 139-149, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Haiwen Zhou, 2018. "Impact of international trade on unemployment under oligopoly," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(4), pages 365-379, May.
    2. Alan V. Deardorff, 2016. "Local Import Competition in a Lumpy Country," Working Papers 653, Research Seminar in International Economics, University of Michigan.
    3. Haiwen Zhou, 2023. "Impact of international trade under dual labor markets," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(4), pages 917-934, October.
    4. Richard A. Brecher & Zhiqi Chen, 2014. "Unemployment and welfare consequences of international outsourcing under monopolistic competition," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 47(2), pages 540-554, May.
    5. Heid, Benedikt & Larch, Mario, 2012. "Migration, trade and unemployment," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 6, pages 1-40.
    6. Anwar, Sajid, 2013. "Outsourcing and the skilled–unskilled wage gap," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 118(2), pages 347-350.
    7. Haiwen Zhou, 2015. "Unemployment and Economic Integration for Developing Countries," Frontiers of Economics in China-Selected Publications from Chinese Universities, Higher Education Press, vol. 10(4), pages 664-690, December.
    8. Judyta Kabus & Michał Dziadkiewicz & Ireneusz Miciuła & Marcin Mastalerz, 2022. "Using Outsourcing Services in Manufacturing Companies," Resources, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-20, March.
    9. Richard A. Brecher & Zhiqi Chen & Zhihao Yu, 2013. "The Trouble with Offshoring: Static and Dynamic Losses in the Presence of Unemployment," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1), pages 1-11, January.
    10. Elias Dinopoulos & Theofanis Tsoulouhas, 2016. "Performance Pay and Offshoring," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 334-369, April.
    11. Lei Wen & Haiwen Zhou, 2020. "Technology Choice, Financial Sector and Economic Integration Under the Presence of Efficiency Wages," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 95-112, February.
    12. Anwar, Sajid & Sun, Sizhong & Valadkhani, Abbas, 2013. "International outsourcing of skill intensive tasks and wage inequality," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 590-597.
    13. Lukas Mohler & Rolf Weder & Simone Wyss, 2018. "International trade and unemployment: towards an investigation of the Swiss case," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 154(1), pages 1-12, December.

    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. Carl Davidson & Steven J. Matusz, 2010. "Our Motivation," Introductory Chapters, in: International Trade with Equilibrium Unemployment, Princeton University Press.
    2. Vesna Stavrevska, 2011. "The efficiency wages perspective to wage rigidity in the open economy: a survey," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 32(3), pages 273-299, June.
    3. Richard A. Brecher & Zhiqi Chen, 2014. "Unemployment and welfare consequences of international outsourcing under monopolistic competition," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 47(2), pages 540-554, May.
    4. Mitra, Devashish & Ranjan, Priya, 2007. "Offshoring and Unemployment," IZA Discussion Papers 2805, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Eckel, Carsten, 2003. "Labor market adjustments to globalization: unemployment versus relative wages," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 173-188, August.
    6. Lutz Altenburg & Anke Brenken, 2008. "Effort, trade, and unemployment," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(3), pages 864-893, August.
    7. Sener, Fuat, 2001. "Schumpeterian unemployment, trade and wages," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 119-148, June.
    8. David Hummels & Jakob R. Munch & Chong Xiang, 2018. "Offshoring and Labor Markets," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(3), pages 981-1028, September.
    9. Lars Calmfors & Giancarlo Corsetti & Michael P. Devereux & Gilles Saint-Paul & Hans-Werner Sinn & Jan-Egbert Sturm & Xavier Vives, 2008. "Chapter 3: The effect of globalisation on Western European jobs: curse or blessing?," EEAG Report on the European Economy, CESifo, vol. 0, pages 71-104, February.
    10. Richard A. Brecher & Zhihao Yu, 2021. "Trade-Induced Reduction In Unemployment Of A High-Wage Economy: A Minimum-Wage Model With Country-Specific Technology," Carleton Economic Papers 21-04, Carleton University, Department of Economics.
    11. Wisarut Suwanprasert, 2020. "Optimal trade policy, equilibrium unemployment, and labor market inefficiency," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 1232-1268, November.
    12. Elhanan Helpman & Oleg Itskhoki, 2010. "Labour Market Rigidities, Trade and Unemployment," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 77(3), pages 1100-1137.
    13. Patrick Artus, 2006. "Intégration commerciale avec des pays émergents ayant des ressources importantes en main-d'œuvre qualifiée. Quels effets pour les pays européens ?," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 57(4), pages 673-704.
    14. Larch Mario & Lechthaler Wolfgang, 2011. "Comparative Advantage and Skill-Specific Unemployment," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-58, April.
    15. Kala Krishna & Abhiroop Mukhopadhyay & Cemile Yavas, 2005. "Trade with Labor Market Distortions and Heterogeneous Labor: Why Trade Can Hurt," Contributions to Economics, in: Günter S. Heiduk & Kar-yiu Wong (ed.), WTO and World Trade, pages 65-83, Springer.
    16. Jonathan E. Haskel, 2000. "Trade and Labor Approaches to Wage Inequality," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(3), pages 397-408, August.
    17. Xinpeng Xu & Yu Sheng, 2014. "Terms of Trade Shocks and Endogenous Search Unemployment: A Two-Sector Model with Non-Traded Goods," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(2), pages 201-215, May.
    18. Piva, Mariacristina & Santarelli, Enrico & Vivarelli, Marco, 2005. "The skill bias effect of technological and organisational change: Evidence and policy implications," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 141-157, March.
    19. Jeff Borland, 2000. "Economic Explanations of Earnings Distribution Trends in the International Literature and Application to New Zealand," Treasury Working Paper Series 00/16, New Zealand Treasury.
    20. Fitzenberger, Bernd, 1996. "Wages, prices, and international trade: Trends across industries for an "export champion"," Discussion Papers, Series II 323, University of Konstanz, Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 178 "Internationalization of the Economy".

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:car:carecp:08-07. 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: Court Lindsay (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.