دانلود رایگان مقاله مدل عوامل خاص چند بخشی با دو عامل همراه

Abstract

This paper is an extension of the specific factors model to the study of relative wages by considering a multi-industry model with skilled and unskilled labor as the only mobile factors. We show that for changes in the price of a single industry, the impact on the skill premium is usually modest and sometimes the sign is the reverse of expectations. The elasticity of substitution between factors is critical for single-sector price changes. To generate a Stolper-Samuelson magnification effect, it is necessary to have a large number of price changes across industries intensive in either skilled or unskilled labor.

7. Conclusion

The skill premium has been studied in many different contexts and researchers have drawn different conclusions in regards to what the underlying reasons are. Theoretically, majority of the studies use the Heckscher–Ohlin Model, which uses two industries only and has additional restrictive assumptions. Alternatively, this paper employs the specific factors model to exploit substitution elasticities in determining the general equilibrium. This paper appears to be the first application of the specific factors model to the study of the relative wages of skilled and unskilled workers by considering a multi-industry model with those two types of labor as the only mobile factors. To make the model operational, substitution elasticities between capital and two types of mobile labor, skilled and unskilled labor, are estimated using a translog cost function for 27 U.S. industries. Then the model is calibrated by those estimates and solved for a general equilibrium. It is shown that for changes in price of a single industry, the impact on the skill premium is usually quite modest and sometimes the sign is the reverse of expectations. It is necessary to have a large number of price changes across industries to generate a Stolper-Samuelson magnification effect. This indicates how much valuable information is lost when industries are aggregated. In contrast to what the standard H–O Model predicts, in a large number of industries, both skilled and unskilled wages rise in response to an increase in commodity prices. With all substitution elasticities and labor shares playing a role, it is not straightforward, as in the two industry case, to predict changes in factor prices without solving for the general equilibrium. The results suggest that further research with even more disaggregation of labor in terms of skill levels or industry level may provide valuable insights in understanding the skill premium and the role elasticity of substitution between factor inputs play.