پویایی نیروی کار و نابرابری دستمزد در حضور سرمایه گذاری خارجی درون زا

This paper examines the impact of labour mobility and increased competition on skilled–unskilled wage inequality and foreign investment. Unlike the existing literature this paper considers a model where foreign investment is endogenously determined. The paper shows that in the shortrun, inflow of either skilled or unskilled labour has no effect on wage inequality but increased competition increases wage inequality. Inflow of either type of labour increases foreign investment but the impact of increased competition on foreign investment cannot be unambiguously determined. Inflow of skilled labour increases wage inequality in the longrun and its effect on foreign investment is positive. Increased competition in the longrun increases wage inequality, foreign investment and welfare.

While the world economy has experienced significant growth in recent years, the gains from this growth have not been equally shared. Empirical studies summarised by Feenstra and Hanson (2003) have reported a link between skilled–unskilled wage inequality and globalisation. In a recent empirical study Blum (2008) has argued that drivers of globalisation can lead to changes in the sectoral composition of the economy that have implications for wage inequality. A number of theoretical studies have attempted to identify the determinants of wage inequality. For example, by making use of a standard Heckscher–Ohlin model, Kremer and Maskin (2003) have argued that trade liberalisation increases wage inequality in developed countries, while its effect on wage inequality in developing countries is the opposite. Ethier (2005) has shown that outsourcing arising from increased globalisation can result in increased wage inequality. Marjit and Kar (2005) have shown that, depending on the relative size of the income share of capital, emigration of either skilled or unskilled labour can increase wages or decrease wage inequality. Marjit and Kar (2005) have shown that the impact of international factor mobility on the skilled–unskilled wage gap depends on relative factor intensities. Grenier and Tavakoli (2006) have argued the R&D spending and union density can significantly affect the level of wage inequality. Anwar (2006) has shown that labour mobility can increase wage inequality even if the income share of capital were identical across industries. Chaudhuri and Yabuuchi (2007) have shown that, in the presence of labour market imperfections, a reduction in import tariff on the low-skilled manufacturing sector leads to an unambiguous increase in wage inequality. Yabuuchi and Chaudhuri (2007) have extended the work of Marjit and Kar (2005) by demonstrating that the impact of international migration of labour on wage inequality depends not only on relative capital but also on the institutional nature of the labour markets. Wälde and Weiβ (2007) have argued that globalisation has led to increased competitive pressures that have in turn contributed to downsizing. They have shown that downsizing has implications for wage inequality. Chaudhuri (2008) has extended this result in an important direction by demonstrating that in the presence of unemployment, the impact of international factor mobility on the wage gap does not always depends on relative factor intensities. Chaudhuri utilises an interesting model of a small dual economy where the rural sector produces an agricultural good by means of unskilled labour and land and the urban sector produces both a high-skilled as well as a low-skilled manufactured good. The high-skill manufactured good is produced by means of skilled labour and capital whereas the low-skilled manufactured good is produced by means of unskilled labour and capital. While capital is fully mobile within the dual economy, the unskilled labour is sector specific. An interesting feature of the model is the presence of unemployment of unskilled labour within the urban sector through a Harris–Todaro type mechanism. The model is used to derive several interesting results. By making use of a dynamic model, Fang et al. (2008) have considered the impact of technology spillover on wage inequality. Fang et al. have utilised a model where an expanding variety of capital goods contributes to technology spillover from skilled to unskilled workers. They have argued that technology spillover affects the size of the wage premium in the longrun.2 Almost all available studies have focused on the issue of wage inequality by utilising models that can be viewed as longrun models. It is well-known that shortrun effects can be substantially different from longrun effects (see Chao and Yu, 1997 and Das, 2002). In addition, the present day world economy is characterised by significant capital mobility across international boundaries, which is in turn dependent n a number of factors such as the availability of cheap unskilled labour in China and cheap skilled labour in India. However, almost all available studies assume that international capital flows are exogenous. By making use of a stylised model where foreign investment is endogenous, this paper examines the impact of increased competition and labour mobility on wage inequality in the shortrun as well as the longrun. The rest of the paper unfolds as follows. A simple general equilibrium model of a small open-economy is presented in Section 2. The impact of labour mobility and increased competition on wage inequality and foreign investment in the shortrun as well as the longrun is examined in Section 3. The last section offers some concluding remarks.

Trade liberalisation and increased globalisation have contributed to increased prosperity. However, empirical evidence suggests that gains from the growth of world economy have not been equally shared. A number of theoretical studies have attempted to identify the determinants of skilled–unskilled wage inequality. However, almost all available studies utilise models that are relevant in the longrun. In addition, despite significant increase in foreign investment flows across the globe, most existing studies either do not explicitly include foreign investment or assume that foreign investment is exogenous. In fact in all real economies, foreign investment depends on a number of factors and hence cannot be viewed as exogenous. For example among other factors foreign investment in China can be attributed to the availability of cheap unskilled labour. This paper focuses on the impact of labour mobility and increased competition on wage inequality in the presence of endogenous foreign investment in the shortrun as well as longrun. The results presented in this paper are based on a simple general equilibrium model of a small open economy that produces one industrial good and one agricultural good. The industrial good is produced by means of varieties of producer services, capital and skilled labour. Varieties of producer services are produced by means of capital and skilled labour whereas the agricultural good is produced by means of unskilled labour and capital. Capital is fully mobile across international boundaries and hence foreign investment occurs in all sectors of the economy. As is usual in economic-geography and endogenous-growth models, because of the presence of internal economies in producer services sector, the production of industrial goods is subject to external economies of scale. Analysis of the shortrun equilibrium shows that in the presence of endogenous foreign investment, inflow of either skilled or unskilled labour has no effect on wage inequality. However, inflow of both skilled and unskilled labour increases foreign investment. An increase in competition in the producer services sector increases wage inequality but its effect on foreign investment cannot be unambiguously determined. In the longrun, due to free entry and exit, the number of firms in the producer services sector is endogenous. Because foreign investment is endogenous, an inflow of unskilled labour has no effect on wage inequality in the longrun. However, due to the presence of external economies in the industrial sector, an inflow of skilled labour increases wage inequality. The existing studies where foreign investment has not been explicitly included have shown that, depending on relative factor intensities, an inflow of either skilled or unskilled labour can increase or decrease wage inequality. This paper shows that, just like in the shortrun, an inflow of either skilled or unskilled labour increases foreign investment in the longrun but the longrun effect of skilled labour inflow on foreign investment is stronger due to the presence of external economies in industrial sector. Increased competition in the producer services sector increases the number of firms in producer services sector in the longrun and hence its effect on wage inequality and foreign investment is positive. Increased competition and inflow of skilled labour also increases welfare in the longrun.