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Trade's Impact on the Labor Share: Evidence from German and Italian Regions

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  • Claudia M. Buch
  • Paola Monti
  • Farid Toubal

Abstract

Has the labor share declined? And what is the impact of international trade? These questions are not only relevant in an international context they also matter for understanding the regional distribution of incomes in a given country. In this paper, we study two regions with trade exposures that differ from the rest of the country, and which display distinct changes in the labor share. East German and Southern Italian regions have a degree of international openness which is below the countries’ averages. At the same time, there has been a more pronounced decline in the labor share in East Germany than in West Germany. In Southern Italy, the labor share has increased in recent years. We show that increased trade openness is not the main culprit behind changing labor shares.

Suggested Citation

  • Claudia M. Buch & Paola Monti & Farid Toubal, 2008. "Trade's Impact on the Labor Share: Evidence from German and Italian Regions," IAW Discussion Papers 46, Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung (IAW).
    • Handle: RePEc:iaw:iawdip:46
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Aretz, Bodo & Busl, Claudia & Gürtzgen, Nicole & Hogrefe, Jan & Kappler, Marcus & Steffes, Susanne & Westerheide, Peter, 2009. "Endbericht zum Forschungsauftrag fe 13/08: "Ursachenanalyse der Verschiebung in der funktionalen Einkommensverteilung in Deutschland" (Aktenzeichen I A 3 - Vw 3170/08/10035)," ZEW Expertises, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, number 110510.
    2. Taining Wang & Jinjing Tian, 2020. "Recasting the trade impact on labor share: a fixed-effect semiparametric estimation study," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 58(5), pages 2465-2511, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    labor share; trade; regions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution
    • F10 - International Economics - - Trade - - - General
    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General

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