Searching for the smoking gun: Did trade hurt unskilled workers?

Winchester, Niven

Login to OUR Archive using your University of Otago credentials. We have changed how you log into OUR Archive so you will not need to create another account in order to deposit your research outputs. If you have bookmarked the old login page, please update your bookmarks. Note: This change will not affect Thesis Deposit, because an account is not required to submit your e-thesis.

Searching for the smoking gun: Did trade hurt unskilled workers?

Winchester, Niven

Cite this item: Winchester, N. (2006). Searching for the smoking gun: Did trade hurt unskilled workers? (Economics Discussion Papers Series No. 605). University of Otago. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10523/1028

Permanent link to OUR Archive version: http://hdl.handle.net/10523/1028

Date: 2006-11

Publisher: University of Otago

Pages: 31

Series: Economics Discussion Papers Series

Series number: 605

Keywords: trade and wages; skill classification

Research Type: Discussion Paper

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.

Show full item record