American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Trade Liberalization and Gender Inequality
American Economic Review
vol. 103,
no. 3, May 2013
(pp. 269–73)
Abstract
We consider a model where firms differ in their productivity and workers are differentiated by skill and gender. A reduction in tariffs induces more productive firms to modernize their technology and enter the export market. New technologies involve computerized production processes and lower the need for physically demanding skills. As a result, the relative wage and employment of women improves in blue-collar tasks, but not in white-collar tasks. We empirically confirm these theoretical predictions using a panel of Mexican establishments and the tariff reductions associated with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).Citation
Juhn, Chinhui, Gergely Ujhelyi, and Carolina Villegas-Sanchez. 2013. "Trade Liberalization and Gender Inequality." American Economic Review, 103 (3): 269–73. DOI: 10.1257/aer.103.3.269Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- F13 Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
- F16 Trade and Labor Market Interactions
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
- J31 Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
- O15 Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
- O19 International Linkages to Development; Role of International Organizations