与发展中国家的贸易是否扩大了美国的相对工资差距

Does Trade with Developing Countries Raise Relative Wage Gap in U.S.

对外贸易不仅直接影响着相对工资差距,还通过技术创新效应间接影响着相对工资差距。本文运用美国制造业1997-2006年的面板数据,实证分析了美国与发展中国家的贸易对美国制造业相对工资差距的影响。研究结论是:来自发展中国家劳动密集型产品的进口竞争没有扩大美国制造业所有行业的相对工资差距,美国劳动密集制造部门相对工资差距的扩大与来自发展中国家的进口竞争有一定的关联,但技术密集制造部门相对工资差距的扩大与其无关;美国对发展中国家的出口贸易以及国内的技术创新在很大程度上扩大了美国制造业的相对工资差距。

This paper empirically analyzes the impacts of trade with developing countries on relative wage gap using panel data of U.S. manufacturing. The results show that, import of labor-intensive products from developing countries does not raise the relative wage gap between skilled-labor and unskilled-labor in all sectors of U.S. manufacturing. However, export of skill-intensive products in U.S. manufacturing to developing countries induces skill-biased defensive innovation which increases skill demand and decreases the demand for unskilled labor, so the relative wage gap rises in U.S. manufacturing.