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European trade with lower-income countries and the relative wages of the unskilled: an exploratory analysis for West Germany and the UK

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  • Lücke, Matthias

Abstract

This paper develops a Heckscher-Ohlin-type framework in which relative factor prices are affected by output prices as well as by total factor productivity growth. The empirical analysis finds no evidence that the relative prices of unskilled-labour- intensive manufactures, adjusted for total factor productivity growth, declined after 1970 to depress the wages or employment opportunities (in the presence of an inflexible wage structure) of unskilled labour. Similarly, neither in West Germany nor in the UK did changes in the commodity composition of foreign trade reflect a sustained rise in the stock of unskilled labour in the rest of the world (which they should if labour markets were strongly affected by growing developing country exports).

Suggested Citation

  • Lücke, Matthias, 1997. "European trade with lower-income countries and the relative wages of the unskilled: an exploratory analysis for West Germany and the UK," Kiel Working Papers 819, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:ifwkwp:819
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Edwards, T. Huw & Lücke, Matthias, 2021. "Decomposing the growth of the high-skilled wage premium in an advanced economy open to trade," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 766-784.
    2. De Loo, Ivo & Ziesemer, Thomas, 1999. "Determinants Of Sectoral Average Wage and Employment Growth Rates in a Specific Factors Model with Production Externalities and International Capital Movements," Research Memorandum 006, Maastricht University, Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    3. Siebert, Horst & Stehn, Jürgen, 1999. "Internationaler Handel, dynamischer Wettbewerb und nationale Beschäftigungsstruktur: eine Bestandsaufnahme für Deutschland," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 2392, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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