IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/aejmac/v3y2011i4p53-84.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exchange Rates and Wages in an Integrated World

Author

Listed:
  • Prachi Mishra
  • Antonio Spilimbergo

Abstract

We analyze how the pass-through from exchange rate to domestic wages depends on the degree of integration between domestic and foreign labor markets. Using data from 66 countries over the period 1981-2005, we find that the elasticity of domestic wages to real exchange rate is 0.15 after a year for countries with high barriers to external labor mobility, but about 0.40 in countries with low barriers to mobility. The result is robust to the inclusion of various controls, different measures of exchange rates, and definitions of labor market integration. These findings call for including labor mobility in macro models of external adjustment. (JEL F16, F31, J31)

Suggested Citation

  • Prachi Mishra & Antonio Spilimbergo, 2011. "Exchange Rates and Wages in an Integrated World," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(4), pages 53-84, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejmac:v:3:y:2011:i:4:p:53-84
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/mac.3.4.53
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/mac.3.4.53
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/mac/data/2010-0079_data.zip
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/mac/app/2010-0079_app.pdf
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ann Harrison, 2007. "Globalization and Poverty," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number harr06-1.
    2. Dean Yang, 2006. "Why Do Migrants Return to Poor Countries? Evidence from Philippine Migrants' Responses to Exchange Rate Shocks," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(4), pages 715-735, November.
    3. Jose Manuel Campa & Linda S. Goldberg, 2001. "Employment Versus Wage Adjustment And The U.S. Dollar," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(3), pages 477-489, August.
    4. Gordon H. Hanson & Raymond Robertson & Antonio Spilimbergo, 2002. "Does Border Enforcement Protect U.S. Workers From Illegal Immigration?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(1), pages 73-92, February.
    5. Burstein, Ariel T. & Neves, Joao C. & Rebelo, Sergio, 2003. "Distribution costs and real exchange rate dynamics during exchange-rate-based stabilizations," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(6), pages 1189-1214, September.
    6. Kevin A. Hassett & Aparna Mathur, 2006. "Taxes and Wages," AEI Economics Working Papers 49800, American Enterprise Institute.
    7. Borjas, George J & Fischer, Eric O'N, 2001. "Dollarization and the Mexican Labor Market," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 33(2), pages 626-647, May.
    8. Antonio Spilimbergo & Gordon H. Hanson, 1999. "Illegal Immigration, Border Enforcement, and Relative Wages: Evidence from Apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico Border," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(5), pages 1337-1357, December.
    9. Bouton, Lawrence & Paul, Saumik & Tiongson, Erwin R., 2011. "The impact of emigration on source country wages : evidence from the Republic of Moldova," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5764, The World Bank.
    10. Robertson, Raymond, 2003. "Exchange rates and relative wages: evidence from Mexico," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 25-48, March.
    11. Pierre Cahuc & André Zylberberg, 2004. "Labor Economics," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026203316x, April.
    12. Mishra, Prachi, 2007. "Emigration and wages in source countries: Evidence from Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 180-199, January.
    13. Carrington, William J & Detragiache, Enrica & Vishwanath, Tara, 1996. "Migration with Endogenous Moving Costs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(4), pages 909-930, September.
    14. Peter Pedroni, 2001. "Purchasing Power Parity Tests In Cointegrated Panels," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(4), pages 727-731, November.
    15. Dean Yang, 2006. "Why Do Migrants Return to Poor Countries? Evidence From Philippine Migrants%u2019 Responses to Exchange Rate Shocks," NBER Working Papers 12396, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Kaivan Munshi, 2003. "Networks in the Modern Economy: Mexican Migrants in the U. S. Labor Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(2), pages 549-599.
    17. George J. Borjas, 2021. "The Labor Demand Curve Is Downward Sloping: Reexamining The Impact Of Immigration On The Labor Market," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 9, pages 235-274, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    18. Linda S. Goldberg & Joseph Tracy, 2001. "Exchange rates and wages," Staff Reports 116, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    19. Donald R. Davis & Prachi Mishra, 2007. "Stolper-Samuelson Is Dead: And Other Crimes of Both Theory and Data," NBER Chapters, in: Globalization and Poverty, pages 87-108, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Beck, Thorsten & Peria, Maria Soledad Martinez, 2009. "What explains the cost of remittances ? an examination across 119 country corridors," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5072, The World Bank.
    21. Harrison, Ann (ed.), 2007. "Globalization and Poverty," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226318004, April.
    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. Joseph S Shapiro, 2021. "The Environmental Bias of Trade Policy," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 136(2), pages 831-886.
    2. Matthieu Bussière & Guillaume Gaulier & Walter Steingress, 2020. "Global Trade Flows: Revisiting the Exchange Rate Elasticities," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 25-78, February.
    3. Christian Dustmann & Hyejin Ku & Tetyana Surovtseva, 2024. "Real Exchange Rates and the Earnings of Immigrants," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 134(657), pages 271-294.
    4. Hjort, Jonas & Li, Xuan & Sarsons, Heather, 2020. "Across-Country Wage Compression in Multinationals," CEPR Discussion Papers 14465, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Navarro, Lucas, 2009. "Employment dynamics and crises in Latin America," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), December.
    6. Ouyang, Alice Y. & Paul, Saumik, 2018. "The effect of skilled emigration on real exchange rates through the wage channel," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 139-153.
    7. Cabral, René & Mollick, André Varella, 2017. "Mexican real wages and the U.S. economy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 141-152.
    8. Nguyen, Ha Trong & Duncan, Alan S, 2017. "Exchange rate fluctuations and immigrants' labour market outcomes: New evidence from Australian household panel data," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 174-186.
    9. Lewis, John & Swannell, Matt, 2018. "The macroeconomic determinants of migration," Bank of England working papers 729, Bank of England.
    10. Andini, Corrado, 2023. "Exchange-rate policy, institutions and wages: A macroeconomic quasi-experiment from Italy, 1997–2000," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 158-170.
    11. Jonas Hjort & Xuan Li & Heather Sarsons, 2020. "Random-Coefficients Logit Demand Estimation with Zero-Valued Market Shares," Working Papers 2020-15, Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics.

    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. Hanson, Gordon H., 2010. "International Migration and the Developing World," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Dani Rodrik & Mark Rosenzweig (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 4363-4414, Elsevier.
    2. Gordon H. Hanson, 2006. "Illegal Migration from Mexico to the United States," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 44(4), pages 869-924, December.
    3. Davide Gandolfi & Timothy Halliday & Raymond Robertson, 2017. "Trade, FDI, migration, and the place premium: Mexico and the United States," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 153(1), pages 1-37, February.
    4. Gordon H. Hanson, 2009. "The Economic Consequences of the International Migration of Labor," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 179-208, May.
    5. Parag Mahajan & Dean Yang, 2020. "Taken by Storm: Hurricanes, Migrant Networks, and US Immigration," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 250-277, April.
    6. Mckenzie, David & Rapoport, Hillel, 2007. "Network effects and the dynamics of migration and inequality: Theory and evidence from Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 1-24, September.
    7. Jesus Fernández-Huertas Moraga, 2008. "Wealth constraints, skill prices or networks: what determines emigrant selection?," Working Papers 346, Barcelona School of Economics.
    8. Bertoli, Simone & Fernández-Huertas Moraga, Jesús, 2013. "Multilateral resistance to migration," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 79-100.
    9. Jean-Louis Arcand & Linguère M'Baye, 2011. "Braving the waves: The economics of clandestine migration from Africa," CERDI Working papers halshs-00575606, HAL.
    10. Benjamin Elsner, 2013. "Does emigration benefit the stayers? Evidence from EU enlargement," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(2), pages 531-553, April.
    11. Gröger, André, 2021. "Easy come, easy go? Economic shocks, labor migration and the family left behind," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    12. Milo Bianchi, 2013. "Immigration Policy and Self-Selecting Migrants," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 15(1), pages 1-23, February.
    13. Christian Dustmann & Hyejin Ku & Tetyana Surovtseva, 2024. "Real Exchange Rates and the Earnings of Immigrants," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 134(657), pages 271-294.
    14. Nguyen, Ha Trong & Duncan, Alan S, 2017. "Exchange rate fluctuations and immigrants' labour market outcomes: New evidence from Australian household panel data," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 174-186.
    15. Simone Bertoli & Jesús Fernández-Huertas Moraga & Sekou Keita, 2017. "The Elasticity of the Migrant Labour Supply: Evidence from Temporary Filipino Migrants," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(11), pages 1822-1834, November.
    16. Mariano Bosch & Marco Manacorda, 2010. "Minimum Wages and Earnings Inequality in Urban Mexico," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(4), pages 128-149, October.
    17. Bandiera, Oriana & Rasul, Imran & Viarengo, Martina, 2013. "The Making of Modern America: Migratory Flows in the Age of Mass Migration," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 23-47.
    18. Jesúús Fernández-Huertas Moraga, 2011. "New Evidence on Emigrant Selection," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(1), pages 72-96, February.
    19. Isabelle Chort & Maëlys Rupelle, 2016. "Determinants of Mexico-U.S. Outward and Return Migration Flows: A State-Level Panel Data Analysis," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(5), pages 1453-1476, October.
    20. Costanza Biavaschi & Giovanni Facchini & Anna Maria Mayda & Mariapia Mendola, 2018. "South–South migration and the labor market: evidence from South Africa," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(4), pages 823-853.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions
    • F31 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Exchange
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

    Lists

    This item is featured on the following reading lists, Wikipedia, or ReplicationWiki pages:
    1. Exchange Rates and Wages in an Integrated World (AEJ:MA 2011) in ReplicationWiki

    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:aea:aejmac:v:3:y:2011:i:4:p:53-84. 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: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    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.