IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cje/issued/v44y2011i2p509-540.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rigid labour markets with trade and capital mobility: theory and evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Peter Egger
  • David Greenaway
  • Tobias Seidel

Abstract

We develop a multi-country model with imperfect labour markets to study the effect of labour market frictions on bilateral trade flows. We use a framework that allows for goods trade and capital mobility and show that labour market imperfections exert opposite effects in the absence of capital mobility (the short run) and its presence (the long run), respectively. In the short run, a higher degree of labour market rigidity decreases the value of total trade, but increases the share of intra-industry trade for a country that is larger than its trading partner. The reverse effects are observed when capital is allowed to cross country borders. Using data on unemployment and income distribution for 23 OECD countries, we compute the central parameter in our theoretical model that describes the degree of labour market rigidity. We use this new empirical concept to provide evidence for our theoretical findings by means of reduced-form regressions as well as simulation results of a calibrated general equilibrium model.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Egger & David Greenaway & Tobias Seidel, 2011. "Rigid labour markets with trade and capital mobility: theory and evidence," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 44(2), pages 509-540, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:cje:issued:v:44:y:2011:i:2:p:509-540
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-5982.2011.01642.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5982.2011.01642.x
    Download Restriction: access restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1540-5982.2011.01642.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James E. Anderson & Eric van Wincoop, 2004. "Trade Costs," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 691-751, September.
    2. James R. Markusen, 2004. "Multinational Firms and the Theory of International Trade," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262633078, April.
    3. James E. Anderson & Eric van Wincoop, 2003. "Gravity with Gravitas: A Solution to the Border Puzzle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 170-192, March.
    4. Agell, Jonas & Lundborg, Per, 1992. "Fair wages, involuntary unemployment and tax policies in the simple general equilibrium model," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 299-320, April.
    5. Alesina, Alberto & Perotti, Roberto, 1997. "The Welfare State and Competitiveness," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(5), pages 921-939, December.
    6. Scott L. Baier & Gerald P. Dwyer & Robert Tamura, 2006. "How Important are Capital and Total Factor Productivity for Economic Growth?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 44(1), pages 23-49, January.
    7. Papke, Leslie E. & Wooldridge, Jeffrey M., 2008. "Panel data methods for fractional response variables with an application to test pass rates," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 145(1-2), pages 121-133, July.
    8. Felbermayr, Gabriel & Prat, Julien & Schmerer, Hans-Jörg, 2011. "Globalization and labor market outcomes: Wage bargaining, search frictions, and firm heterogeneity," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 146(1), pages 39-73, January.
    9. Hartmut Egger & Udo Kreickemeier, 2017. "International Fragmentation: Boon or Bane for Domestic Employment?," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: International Trade and Labor Markets Welfare, Inequality and Unemployment, chapter 9, pages 237-263, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    10. Falvey, Rod & Greenaway, David & Silva, Joana, 2010. "Trade liberalisation and human capital adjustment," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 230-239, July.
    11. Davidson, Carl & Martin, Lawrence & Matusz, Steven, 1988. "The Structure of Simple General Equilibrium Models with Frictional Unemployment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(6), pages 1267-1293, December.
    12. George A. Akerlof, 1982. "Labor Contracts as Partial Gift Exchange," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 97(4), pages 543-569.
    13. Peter Egger & Tobias Seidel, 2008. "Agglomeration and fair wages," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 41(1), pages 271-291, February.
    14. Andrea Bassanini & Romain Duval, 2006. "Employment Patterns in OECD Countries: Reassessing the Role of Policies and Institutions," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 35, OECD Publishing.
    15. J. M. C. Santos Silva & Silvana Tenreyro, 2006. "The Log of Gravity," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(4), pages 641-658, November.
    16. Paul Krugman, 1995. "Growing World Trade: Causes and Consequences," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 26(1, 25th A), pages 327-377.
    17. Jean‐Pierre Danthine & André Kurmann, 2007. "The Macroeconomic Consequences of Reciprocity in Labor Relations," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 109(4), pages 857-881, December.
    18. Helpman, Elhanan, 1987. "Imperfect competition and international trade: Evidence from fourteen industrial countries," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 62-81, March.
    19. Carl Davidson & Steven J. Matusz, 2005. "Trade and Turnover: Theory and Evidence," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(5), pages 861-880, November.
    20. Christopher A. Pissarides, 2000. "Equilibrium Unemployment Theory, 2nd Edition," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262161877, April.
    21. Udo Kreickemeier & Douglas Nelson, 2017. "Fair Wages, Unemployment, and Technological Change in a Global Economy," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: International Trade and Labor Markets Welfare, Inequality and Unemployment, chapter 8, pages 205-235, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    22. Davidson, Carl & Martin, Lawrence & Matusz, Steven, 1999. "Trade and search generated unemployment," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 271-299, August.
    23. Zhao, Laixun, 1998. "The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on Wages and Employment," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 50(2), pages 284-301, April.
    24. 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.
    25. 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.
    26. Martin, Philippe & Rogers, Carol Ann, 1995. "Industrial location and public infrastructure," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3-4), pages 335-351, November.
    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. Egger, Hartmut & Egger, Peter & Kreickemeier, Udo, 2013. "Trade, wages, and profits," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 332-350.
    2. Schmerer, Hans-Jörg, 2012. "FDI, skill-specific unemployment, and institutional spillover effects," Economics Discussion Papers 2012-2, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    3. Schmerer, Hans-Jörg, 2012. "Skill-biased labor market reforms and international competitiveness," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 6, pages 1-39.
    4. Deininger, Klaus & Jin, Songqing & Xia, Fang & Huang, Jikun, 2014. "Moving Off the Farm: Land Institutions to Facilitate Structural Transformation and Agricultural Productivity Growth in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 505-520.
    5. Selwaness, Irène & Zaki, Chahir, 2019. "On the interaction between exports and labor market regulation: Evidence from the MENA countries," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 24-33.
    6. Li, Guangzhong & Egger, Peter H. & Li, Jie & Wu, Han, 2022. "Exporting firms’ factor and product-quality adjustments in response to employment protection legislation: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    7. Xi Yang & Dao‐Zhi Zeng, 2021. "Trade liberalisation with mobile capital and firm heterogeneity," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 530-559, February.
    8. Falvey, Rod & Greenaway, David & Silva, Joana, 2010. "Trade liberalisation and human capital adjustment," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 230-239, July.
    9. Le Riche, Antoine & Lloyd-Braga, Teresa & Modesto, Leonor, 2022. "Intra-industry trade, involuntary unemployment and macroeconomic stability," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    10. Jayjit Roy, 2016. "Employment Protection Legislation and International Trade," Working Papers 16-06, Department of Economics, Appalachian State University.
    11. Roy, Jayjit, 2021. "The effect of employment protection legislation on international trade," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 221-234.

    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. Gabriel J. Felbermayr & Mario Larch & Wolfgang Lechthaler, 2013. "Unemployment in an Interdependent World," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 262-301, February.
    2. Heid, Benedikt & Larch, Mario, 2016. "Gravity with unemployment," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 70-85.
    3. Felbermayr, Gabriel & Prat, Julien & Schmerer, Hans-Jörg, 2011. "Trade and unemployment: What do the data say?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(6), pages 741-758, August.
    4. Joël Hellier, 2013. "The North-South HOS Model, Inequality and Globalization," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Joël Hellier & Nathalie Chusseau (ed.), Growing Income Inequalities, chapter 4, pages 107-146, Palgrave Macmillan.
    5. Boulhol, Hervé, 2011. "Unemployment and relative labor market institutions between trading partners," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 83-91, January.
    6. 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.
    7. Hervé Boulhol, 2010. "Unemployment and relative labor market institutions between trading partners," Post-Print halshs-00544010, HAL.
    8. repec:gnv:wpaper:unige:77631 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Céline Carrère & Anja Grujovic & Frédéric Robert-Nicoud, 2020. "Trade and Frictional Unemployment in the Global Economy," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 18(6), pages 2869-2921.
    10. Fischer, Justina A.V., 2012. "The choice of domestic policies in a globalized economy: Extended Version," MPRA Paper 37816, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Dinopoulos, Elias & Unel, Bulent, 2015. "Entrepreneurs, jobs, and trade," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 93-112.
    12. Egger, Hartmut & Egger, Peter & Kreickemeier, Udo, 2013. "Trade, wages, and profits," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 332-350.
    13. Fischer, Justina A.V., 2012. "The choice of domestic policies in a globalized economy," Papers 306, World Trade Institute.
    14. Schmerer, Hans-Jörg, 2012. "FDI, skill-specific unemployment, and institutional spillover effects," Economics Discussion Papers 2012-2, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    15. Braun Sebastian, 2010. "Foreign Competition, Multinational Firms, and One-Sided Wage Rigidity," Global Economy Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 10(2), pages 1-30, May.
    16. Fischer, Justina A.V., 2012. "Globalization and Political Trust," Papers 285, World Trade Institute.
    17. Schmerer, Hans-Jörg, 2014. "Foreign direct investment and search unemployment: Theory and evidence," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 41-56.
    18. Schmerer, Hans-Jörg, 2012. "Skill-biased labor market reforms and international competitiveness," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 6, pages 1-39.
    19. Hartmut Egger & Peter Egger & James R. Markusen, 2012. "International Welfare And Employment Linkages Arising From Minimum Wages," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 53(3), pages 771-790, August.
    20. Hervé Boulhol, 2008. "Unemployment and interactions between trade and labour market institutions," Post-Print halshs-00261478, HAL.
    21. Hartmut Egger & Simone Habermeyer, 2022. "How preferences shape the welfare and employment effects of trade," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 158(3), pages 815-853, August.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation
    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

    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:cje:issued:v:44:y:2011:i:2:p:509-540. 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: Prof. Werner Antweiler (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ceaaaea.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.