IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cuf/journl/y2021v22i1pihuang.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Product Variety and Wage Inequality

Author

Listed:
  • Jiancai Pi

    (Department of Economics, Nanjing University)

  • Xiangyu Huang

    (Department of Economics, Nanjing University)

Abstract

This paper analyzes how product variety affects skilled-unskilled wage inequality. Through building several two-sector general equilibrium models, we find that an increase in product variety will expand wage inequality. This shows that the evolution of the product markets will generate a force to enlarge wage inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Jiancai Pi & Xiangyu Huang, 2021. "Product Variety and Wage Inequality," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 22(1), pages 135-151, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:cuf:journl:y:2021:v:22:i:1:pihuang
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://down.aefweb.net/AefArticles/aef220106PiHuang.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James R. Markusen & Anthony J. Venables, 2021. "The theory of endowment, intra-industry and multi-national trade," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: BROADENING TRADE THEORY Incorporating Market Realities into Traditional Models, chapter 4, pages 69-94, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. Winston W. Chang, 2012. "Monopolistic Competition And Product Diversity: Review And Extension," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(5), pages 879-910, December.
    3. Barua, Alokesh & Pant, Manoj, 2014. "Trade and wage inequality: A specific factor model with intermediate goods," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 172-185.
    4. Heritiana Ranaivoson, 2005. "The economic analysis of product diversity," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00197137, HAL.
    5. By Michael Funke & Ralf Ruhwedel, 2001. "Product Variety and Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence for the OECD Countries," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 48(2), pages 1-1.
    6. Anwar, Sajid, 2009. "Wage inequality, welfare and downsizing," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 103(2), pages 75-77, May.
    7. Pierre-Philippe Combes & Thierry Mayer & Jacques-François Thisse, 2008. "Economic Geography: The Integration of Regions and Nations," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-00311000, HAL.
    8. Jeffrey H. Fischer & Joseph E. Harrington Jr., 1996. "Product Variety and Firm Agglomeration," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 27(2), pages 281-309, Summer.
    9. Chaudhuri, Sarbajit & Ghosh, Arnab & Banerjee, Dibyendu, 2018. "Can public subsidy on education necessarily improve wage inequality?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 165-177.
    10. 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.
    11. White, Lawrence J, 1977. "Market Structure and Product Varieties," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(2), pages 179-182, March.
    12. Pi, Jiancai & Zhang, Pengqing, 2016. "Hukou system reforms and skilled-unskilled wage inequality in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 90-103.
    13. Heritiana Ranaivoson, 2005. "The economic analysis of product diversity," Post-Print halshs-00197137, HAL.
    14. Hamid Beladi & Sarbajit Chaudhuri & Shigemi Yabuuchi, 2008. "Can International Factor Mobility Reduce Wage Inequality in a Dual Economy?," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(5), pages 893-903, November.
    15. Dixit, Avinash K & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1977. "Monopolistic Competition and Optimum Product Diversity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(3), pages 297-308, June.
    16. Anwar, Sajid, 2006. "Factor mobility and wage inequality in the presence of specialisation-based external economies," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 88-93, October.
    17. Uzumeri, Mustafa & Sanderson, Susan, 1995. "A framework for model and product family competition," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 583-607, July.
    18. Caminal, Ramon, 2019. "The dynamic provision of product diversity under duopoly," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 248-276.
    19. Swann, Peter, 1990. "Product competition and the dimensions of product space," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 281-295, June.
    20. Manash Ranjan Gupta & Priya Brata Dutta, 2013. "Skilled--unskilled wage inequality and imitation in a product variety model: A theoretical analysis," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(2), pages 181-208, March.
    21. Pierre-Philippe Combes & Thierry Mayer & Jacques-François Thisse, 2008. "Economic Geography: The Integration of Regions and Nations," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-00311000, HAL.
    22. Reza Oladi & John Gilbert & Hamid Beladi, 2011. "Foreign Direct Investment, Non‐Traded Goods And Real Wages," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(1), pages 36-41, February.
    23. Eric A. Verhoogen, 2008. "Trade, Quality Upgrading, and Wage Inequality in the Mexican Manufacturing Sector," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(2), pages 489-530.
    24. Dutta, Meghna & Kar, Saibal & Marjit, Sugata, 2013. "Product variety, finite changes and wage inequality," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 610-613.
    25. Gupta, Manash Ranjan & Dutta, Priya Brata, 2012. "Skilled–unskilled wage inequality, product variety, public input and increasing returns: A static general equilibrium analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 502-513.
    26. 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..
    27. Jiancai Pi & Pengqing Zhang, 2018. "Horizontal Mergers and Wage Inequality," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 174(3), pages 495-513, September.
    28. Zhu, Susan Chun & Trefler, Daniel, 2005. "Trade and inequality in developing countries: a general equilibrium analysis," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 21-48, January.
    29. Pi, Jiancai & Chen, Xuyang, 2016. "The impacts of capital market distortion on wage inequality, urban unemployment, and welfare in developing countries," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 103-115.
    30. Serguei Kaniovski, 2005. "Product differentiation and competitive selection," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 15(5), pages 567-580, November.
    31. Ramon Caminal, 2016. "Dynamic Product Diversity," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(1), pages 1-26, March.
    32. Kelvin Lancaster, 1990. "The Economics of Product Variety: A Survey," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(3), pages 189-206.
    33. Heritiana Ranaivoson, 2005. "The economic analysis of product diversity," Cahiers de la Maison des Sciences Economiques r05083, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1).
    34. Chaudhuri, Sarbajit & Banerjee, Dibyendu, 2008. "Fair Wage Hypothesis, International Factor Mobility and Skilled-Unskilled Wage Inequality in a Developing Economy," MPRA Paper 9303, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    35. Jiancai Pi & Pengqing Zhang, 2017. "Social conflict and wage inequality," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 121(1), pages 29-49, May.
    36. Jiancai Pi & Yanwei Fan, 2019. "Urban bias and wage inequality," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(4), pages 1788-1799, November.
    37. Haskel, Jonathan E. & Slaughter, Matthew J., 2002. "Does the sector bias of skill-biased technical change explain changing skill premia?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(10), pages 1757-1783, December.
    38. Zhang, Jingjing, 2013. "Factor mobility and skilled–unskilled wage inequality in the presence of internationally traded product varieties," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 579-585.
    39. Reza Oladi & Hamid Beladi, 2008. "Non-traded Goods, Technical Progress and Wages," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 507-515, September.
    40. David Card & John E. DiNardo, 2002. "Skill-Biased Technological Change and Rising Wage Inequality: Some Problems and Puzzles," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(4), pages 733-783, October.
    41. Sugata Marjit & Hamid Beladi & Avik Chakrabarti, 2004. "Trade and Wage Inequality in Developing Countries," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 42(2), pages 295-303, April.
    42. Chaudhuri, Sarbajit & Yabuuchi, Shigemi, 2007. "Economic liberalization and wage inequality in the presence of labour market imperfection," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 592-603.
    43. Jones, Ronald W, 1971. "Distortions in Factor Markets and the General Equilibrium Model of Production," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 79(3), pages 437-459, May-June.
    44. Mandal, Biswajit & Marjit, Sugata, 2010. "Corruption and wage inequality?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 166-172, January.
    45. Priya Brata Dutta, 2014. "Skilled-unskilled wage inequality, product variety and unemployment: A static general equilibrium analysis," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(1), pages 31-55, February.
    46. Daron Acemoglu, 2002. "Technical Change, Inequality, and the Labor Market," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(1), pages 7-72, March.
    47. Pi Jiancai & Zhou Yu, 2015. "International Factor Mobility, Production Cost Components, and Wage Inequality," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 15(2), pages 503-522, April.
    48. Beladi, Hamid & Marjit, Sugata & Broll, Udo, 2011. "Capital mobility, skill formation and polarization," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 1902-1906, July.
    49. Anwar, Sajid, 2008. "Factor mobility, wage inequality and welfare," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 495-506, October.
    50. Jiancai Pi & Pengqing Zhang, 2018. "Factor‐biased public infrastructure and wage inequality," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 79-94, August.
    51. Pi, Jiancai & Fan, Yanwei, 2019. "Insecure resources, rent seeking, and wage inequality," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 260-269.
    52. Lancaster, Kelvin, 1975. "Socially Optimal Product Differentiation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 65(4), pages 567-585, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Pi, Jiancai & Zhang, Pengqing, 2021. "Redistribution and wage inequality," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 510-523.
    2. Pi, Jiancai & Zhang, Pengqing, 2018. "Skill-biased technological change and wage inequality in developing countries," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 347-362.
    3. Jiancai Pi & Kaiqi Zhang & Xiangyu Huang, 2023. "Financial globalization and wage inequality," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 70(2), pages 144-157, May.
    4. Sun, Sizhong & Anwar, Sajid, 2015. "Taxation of labour, product varieties and skilled–unskilled wage inequality: Short run versus long run," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 250-257.
    5. Zhang, Jingjing, 2013. "Factor mobility and skilled–unskilled wage inequality in the presence of internationally traded product varieties," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 579-585.
    6. Jiancai Pi & Yanwei Fan, 2022. "Financial frictions and wage inequality," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 1064-1074, January.
    7. Pi, Jiancai & Zhang, Pengqing, 2018. "Structural change and wage inequality," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 699-707.
    8. Chaudhuri, Sarbajit & Marjit, Sugata, 2017. "International trade and quality of labour," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 582-595.
    9. Pi, Jiancai & Zhou, Yu, 2013. "Institutional quality and skilled–unskilled wage inequality," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 356-363.
    10. 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.
    11. Zhang, Pengqing, 2019. "Automation, wage inequality and implications of a robot tax," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 500-509.
    12. Manash Ranjan Gupta & Priya Brata Dutta, 2018. "Skilled-unskilled wage inequality and structural transformation in a dual economy," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 311-332, December.
    13. Pi, Jiancai & Zhou, Yu & Yin, Jun, 2013. "International factor mobility, monopolistic competition, and wage inequality," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 326-332.
    14. Priya Brata Dutta, 2014. "Skilled-unskilled wage inequality, product variety and unemployment: A static general equilibrium analysis," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(1), pages 31-55, February.
    15. Pi, Jiancai & Fan, Yanwei, 2021. "Institutional change and wage inequality," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 440-452.
    16. Gupta, Manash Ranjan & Dutta, Priya Brata, 2012. "Skilled–unskilled wage inequality, product variety, public input and increasing returns: A static general equilibrium analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 502-513.
    17. Anwar, Sajid & Sun, Sizhong, 2015. "Taxation of labour income and the skilled–unskilled wage inequality," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 18-22.
    18. Pi, Jiancai & Zhou, Yu, 2014. "Foreign capital, public infrastructure, and wage inequality in developing countries," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 195-207.
    19. Pan, Lijun, 2014. "The impacts of education investment on skilled–unskilled wage inequality and economic development in developing countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 174-181.
    20. Chaudhuri, Sarbajit & Ghosh, Arnab & Banerjee, Dibyendu, 2018. "Can public subsidy on education necessarily improve wage inequality?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 165-177.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Product variety; Skilled-unskilled wage inequality; General equilibrium model;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • L20 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - General
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

    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:cuf:journl:y:2021:v:22:i:1:pihuang. 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: Qiang Gao (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/emcufcn.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.