Searching for the Smoking Gun: Did Trade Hurt Unskilled Workers?

Niven Winchester

No 605, Working Papers from University of Otago, Department of Economics

Abstract: We contribute to the trade-wage literature by conducting the first economy-wide analysis of the association between trade and wages in New Zealand. We find that increased imports since 1980 caused only a marginal increase in New Zealand wage inequality and, overall, increased trade (imports and exports) reduced wage inequality in this nation. As New Zealand imports of unskilled labour-intensive products relative to GDP are larger than those for other developed nations, we interpret these results as convincing evidence that trade is not responsible for rising wage inequality in developed nations.

Keywords: trade and wages; skill classification (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F16 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2006-09, Revised 2006-09
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Searching for the Smoking Gun: Did Trade Hurt Unskilled Workers? (2008)
Working Paper: Searching for the Smoking Gun: Did Trade Hurt Unskilled Workers? (2006)
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