IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/jpolec/v112y2004i1p209-239.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Distribution of Talent and the Pattern and Consequences of International Trade

Author

Listed:
  • Gene M. Grossman

Abstract

I study the interaction between imperfect labor contracts and international trade in a setting in which workers have private information about their own abilities. When an individual's contribution to firm output can be measured accurately in some activities but not in others, the most able workers select occupations in which their pay most closely reflects their own performance. In a world economy with two otherwise similar countries that have different distributions of talent, the country with the more heterogeneous labor force exports the good that is produced by the most talented individuals. In this country, trade exacerbates the "polarization" of the labor force and often worsens the distribution of income.

Suggested Citation

  • Gene M. Grossman, 2004. "The Distribution of Talent and the Pattern and Consequences of International Trade," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(1), pages 209-239, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jpolec:v:112:y:2004:i:1:p:209-239
    DOI: 10.1086/379935
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/379935
    File Function: main text
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1086/379935?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 search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:bla:scandj:v:97:y:1995:i:1:p:73-88 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Weiss, Andrew W, 1980. "Job Queues and Layoffs in Labor Markets with Flexible Wages," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 88(3), pages 526-538, June.
    3. Milgrom, Paul & Roberts, John, 1990. "The Economics of Modern Manufacturing: Technology, Strategy, and Organization," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(3), pages 511-528, June.
    4. Ruffin, Roy J, 1988. "The Missing Link: The Ricardian Approach to the Factor Endowments Theory of Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(4), pages 759-772, 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. Grossman, G.M., 1998. "Imperfect Labour Contracts and International Trade," Papers 205, Princeton, Woodrow Wilson School - Public and International Affairs.
    2. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2373-2437 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Dennis J. Snower, 1998. "Causes of changing earnings inequality," Proceedings - Economic Policy Symposium - Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, pages 69-133.
    4. Gene Grossman, 2002. "The Distribution of Talent and the Pattern and Consequences of International Trade," CESifo Working Paper Series 745, CESifo.
    5. Sharon Novak & Scott Stern, 2009. "Complementarity Among Vertical Integration Decisions: Evidence from Automobile Product Development," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(2), pages 311-332, February.
    6. Yunhee Kim & Jae Young Choi & Yeonbae Kim, 2009. "Complementarity and Contextuality in the Adoption of Information Systems in Korean Firms," TEMEP Discussion Papers 200919, Seoul National University; Technology Management, Economics, and Policy Program (TEMEP), revised Oct 2009.
    7. López, Alberto, 2012. "Productivity effects of ICTs and organizational change: A test of the complementarity hypothesis in Spain," MPRA Paper 40400, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Mahmood Araï & Gérard Ballot & Ali Skalli, 1996. "Différentiels intersectoriels de salaire et caractéristiques des employeurs en France," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 299(1), pages 37-58.
    9. Jenner, RA, 1998. "Dissipative Enterprises, Chaos, and the Principles of Lean Organizations," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 397-407, June.
    10. Randall S. Kroszner & Philip E. Strahan, 1999. "Bankers on Boards: Monitoring, Conflicts of Interest, and Lender Liability," NBER Working Papers 7319, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Laura Alfaro & Nick Bloom & Paola Conconi & Harald Fadinger & Patrick Legros & Andrew F Newman & Raffaella Sadun & John Van Reenen, 2024. "Come Together: Firm Boundaries and Delegation," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 22(1), pages 34-72.
    12. DeCanio, Stephen J. & Watkins, William E., 1998. "Information processing and organizational structure," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 275-294, August.
    13. Nicholas Bloom & Luis Garicano & Raffaella Sadun & John Van Reenen, 2014. "The Distinct Effects of Information Technology and Communication Technology on Firm Organization," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(12), pages 2859-2885, December.
    14. 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.
    15. Oyer, Paul & Schaefer, Scott, 2011. "Personnel Economics: Hiring and Incentives," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 20, pages 1769-1823, Elsevier.
    16. Mundaca, Gabriela, 2015. "Multi-product firms, exports and exchange rate policies. Evidence from an emerging economy," MPRA Paper 65751, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Da Rin, Marco & Hellmann, Thomas, 2002. "Banks as Catalysts for Industrialization," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 366-397, October.
    18. Dennis L. Gärtner, 2010. "Monopolistic screening under learning by doing," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 41(3), pages 574-597, September.
    19. Zand, Fardad & Van Beers, Cees & Van Leeuwen, George, 2011. "Information technology, organizational change and firm productivity: A panel study of complementarity effects and clustering patterns in Manufacturing and Services," MPRA Paper 46469, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Ruffin, Roy J., 2009. "The gains from specialization and population size," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 105(1), pages 76-77, October.
    21. Nti, Kofi O. & Dompere, Kofi K., 1997. "Technological progress and optimal factor demand," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 117-130, April.

    More about this item

    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:ucp:jpolec:v:112:y:2004:i:1:p:209-239. 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: Journals Division (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JPE .

    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.