IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cdi/wpaper/897.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Openness, Inequality, and Poverty: Endowments Matter

Author

Listed:
  • Jaime MELO DE
  • Julien GOURDON
  • Nicolas MAYSTRE

Abstract

Using tariffs as a measure of openness, this paper finds consistent evidence that the conditional effects of trade liberalization on inequality are correlated with relative factor endowments. Trade liberalization, measured by changes in tariff revenues, is associated with increases in inequality in countries well-endowed in highly skilled workers and capital or with workers that have very low education levels. Similar, though less robust, results are also obtained when decile data are used instead of the usual Gini coefficients. Taken together, the results are strongly supportive of the factor-proportions theory of trade and suggest that trade liberalization in poor countries where the share of the labor force with little education is high raises inequality. Simulation results also suggest that relatively small changes in inequality as measured by aggregate measures of inequality like the Gini coefficient are magnified when estimates are carried out using decile data.

Suggested Citation

  • Jaime MELO DE & Julien GOURDON & Nicolas MAYSTRE, 2007. "Openness, Inequality, and Poverty: Endowments Matter," Working Papers 200711, CERDI.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdi:wpaper:897
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://publi.cerdi.org/ed/2007/2007.11.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Angus Deaton, 2005. "Measuring Poverty in a Growing World (or Measuring Growth in a Poor World)," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(1), pages 1-19, February.
    2. Dollar, David & Kraay, Aart, 2002. "Growth Is Good for the Poor," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 195-225, September.
    3. Romain Wacziarg & Karen Horn Welch, 2008. "Trade Liberalization and Growth: New Evidence," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 22(2), pages 187-231, June.
    4. L. ALAN WINTERS & NEIL McCULLOCH & ANDREW McKAY, 2015. "Trade Liberalization and Poverty: The Evidence So Far," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Non-Tariff Barriers, Regionalism and Poverty Essays in Applied International Trade Analysis, chapter 14, pages 271-314, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    5. Robert C. Feenstra & Gene M. Grossman & Douglas A. Irwin (ed.), 1996. "The Political Economy of Trade Policy: Papers in Honor of Jagdish Bhagwati," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262061864, April.
    6. Angus Deaton, 2005. "ERRATUM: Measuring Poverty in a Growing World (or Measuring Growth in a Poor World)," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(2), pages 395-395, May.
    7. Deininger, Klaus & Squire, Lyn, 1996. "A New Data Set Measuring Income Inequality," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 10(3), pages 565-591, September.
    8. Birdsall, Nancy & Londono, Juan Luis, 1997. "Asset Inequality Matters: An Assessment of the World Bank's Approach to Poverty Reduction," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(2), pages 32-37, May.
    9. Ravallion, Martin, 2001. "Growth, Inequality and Poverty: Looking Beyond Averages," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(11), pages 1803-1815, November.
    10. Jacques Miniane, 2004. "A New Set of Measures on Capital Account Restrictions," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 51(2), pages 1-4.
    11. Anderson, Edward, 2005. "Openness and inequality in developing countries: A review of theory and recent evidence," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 1045-1063, July.
    12. Matthew Higgins & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 1999. "Explaining Inequality the World Round: Cohort Size, Kuznets Curves, andOpenness," NBER Working Papers 7224, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Beck, Nathaniel & Katz, Jonathan N., 1995. "What To Do (and Not to Do) with Time-Series Cross-Section Data," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 89(3), pages 634-647, September.
    14. Pritchett, Lant, 2000. "Understanding Patterns of Economic Growth: Searching for Hills among Plateaus, Mountains, and Plains," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 14(2), pages 221-250, May.
    15. Mattias Lundberg & Lyn Squire, 2003. "The simultaneous evolution of growth and inequality," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(487), pages 326-344, April.
    16. Robert E. Baldwin, 2004. "Openness and Growth: What's the Empirical Relationship?," NBER Chapters, in: Challenges to Globalization: Analyzing the Economics, pages 499-521, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Galiano, Sebastian & Porto, Guido G., 2006. "Trends in tariff reforms and trends in wage inequality," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3905, The World Bank.
    18. Nicita, Alessandro, 2004. "Who benefited from trade liberalization in Mexico? Measuring the effects on household welfare," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3265, The World Bank.
    19. Spilimbergo, Antonio & Londono, Juan Luis & Szekely, Miguel, 1999. "Income distribution, factor endowments, and trade openness," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 77-101, June.
    20. World Bank, 2004. "World Development Indicators 2004," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13890.
    21. Xu, Bin, 2003. "Trade liberalization, wage inequality, and endogenously determined nontraded goods," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 417-431, August.
    22. Robert E. Baldwin & L. Alan Winters, 2004. "Challenges to Globalization: Analyzing the Economics," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number bald04-1.
    23. Francois Bourguignon & Francisco H.G. Ferreira & Nora Lustig, 2005. "The Microeconomics of Income Distribution Dynamics in East Asia and Latin America," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 14844.
    24. Branko Milanovic, 2005. "Can We Discern the Effect of Globalization on Income Distribution? Evidence from Household Surveys," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 19(1), pages 21-44.
    25. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    26. Isabelle Bensidoun & Sébastien Jean & Aude Sztulman, 2011. "International trade and income distribution: reconsidering the evidence," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 147(4), pages 593-619, November.
    27. Hummels, David & Ishii, Jun & Yi, Kei-Mu, 2001. "The nature and growth of vertical specialization in world trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 75-96, June.
    28. Fischer, Ronald D., 2001. "The evolution of inequality after trade liberalization," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 555-579, December.
    29. Barro, Robert J, 2000. "Inequality and Growth in a Panel of Countries," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 5-32, March.
    30. Pinelopi K. Goldberg & Nina Pavcnik, 2004. "Trade, Inequality, and Poverty: What Do We Know? Evidence from Recent Trade Liberalization Episodes in Developing Countries," NBER Working Papers 10593, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    31. Calderon, Cesar & Chong, Alberto, 2001. "External sector and income inequality in interdependent economies using a dynamic panel data approach," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 225-231, May.
    32. Adrian Wood, 2002. "Globalization and wage inequalities: A synthesis of three theories," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 138(1), pages 54-82, March.
    33. Savvides, Andreas, 1998. "Trade policy and income inequality: new evidence," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 365-372, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gourdon, Julien, 2006. "Openness and Inequality in Developing Countries: A New Look at the Evidence," MPRA Paper 4176, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Anderson, Edward, 2005. "Openness and inequality in developing countries: A review of theory and recent evidence," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 1045-1063, July.
    3. Xiaodong Lu & Guowei Cai, 2011. "Effective factor endowments, trade openness and income distribution in China," Frontiers of Economics in China, Springer;Higher Education Press, vol. 6(2), pages 188-210, June.
    4. Oloufade, Djoulassi K., 2012. "Trade Openness, Conflict Risk and Income Inequality," MPRA Paper 40702, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Feb 2013.
    5. Sylvain Chabe-Ferret & Julien Gourdon & Mohamed Ali Marouani & Tancrède Voituriez, 2007. "Trade-Induced Changes in Economic Inequality: Assessment Issues and Policy Implications for Developing Countries," Working Papers DT/2007/11, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    6. Isabelle Bensidoun & Sébastien Jean & Aude Sztulman, 2011. "International trade and income distribution: reconsidering the evidence," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 147(4), pages 593-619, November.
    7. Facundo Alvaredo & Leonardo Gasparini, 2013. "Recent Trends in Inequality and Poverty in Developing Countries," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0151, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    8. Leticia Arroyo Abad & Amelia U. Santos-Paulino, 2009. "Trading Inequality? Insights from the Two Globalizations in Latin America," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2009-44, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    9. Paolo Giordano & Kun Li, 2012. "An Updated Assessment of the Trade and Poverty Nexus in Latin America," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 79119, Inter-American Development Bank.
    10. Adeel Ali & Syed Faizan Iftikhar & Ambreen Fatima & Lubna Naz, 2015. "Income Inequality, Redistribution of Income and Trade Openness," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 54(4), pages 865-874.
    11. Martin Ravallion, 2013. "The Idea of Antipoverty Policy," NBER Working Papers 19210, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Branko Milanovic & Lyn Squire, 2007. "Does Tariff Liberalization Increase Wage Inequality? Some Empirical Evidence," NBER Chapters, in: Globalization and Poverty, pages 143-182, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Ravallion, Martin, 2006. "Looking beyond averages in the trade and poverty debate," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 1374-1392, August.
    14. Thierry Verdier, 2005. "Intégration commerciale « socialement responsable » : une approche en termes d'économie politique," Revue d’économie du développement, De Boeck Université, vol. 13(4), pages 55-121.
    15. Rolf Maier, 2005. "Trade Policy and Pro-Poor Growth," International Trade 0504007, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Meschi, Elena & Vivarelli, Marco, 2009. "Trade and Income Inequality in Developing Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 287-302, February.
    17. Kraay, Aart, 2004. "When is growth pro-poor? Cross-country evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3225, The World Bank.
    18. Muhammad Zakaria & Bashir Ahmed Fida, 2016. "Trade openness and income inequality in China and the SAARC Region," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 30(2), pages 33-44, November.
    19. Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg & Tristan Reed, 2023. "Presidential Address: Demand‐Side Constraints in Development. The Role of Market Size, Trade, and (In)Equality," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 91(6), pages 1915-1950, November.
    20. Ayal Kimhi, 2004. "Growth, Inequality and Labor Markets in LDCs: A Survey," CESifo Working Paper Series 1281, CESifo.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    International trade; Income distribution; Poverty;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D3 - Microeconomics - - Distribution
    • F11 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Neoclassical Models of Trade
    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cdi:wpaper:897. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Vincent Mazenod (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ceauvfr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.