Skip to main content
Log in

Free trade, factor returns, and factor accumulation

  • Published:
Journal of Economic Growth Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A model of development is studied in which physical capital and unskilled labor are good substitutes, and skilled labor is complementary to the resulting aggregate. Growth in a closed economy is compared with two open regimes. Inflows of physical capital only reduce the interest rate and raise both wage rates. The skilled wage rises more sharply, however, increasing the skill premium and accelerating human capital accumulation. Full integration with a larger and more developed neighbor also reduces the interest rate and raises both wage rates, but in this case the skill premium falls and human capital accumulation changes very little.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Baldwin, R. E. (1971). “Determinants of the Commodity Structure of U.S. Trade,” American Economic Review 61, 126–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barro, R. J., and J.-W. Lee. (1993). “International Comparisons of Educational Attainment,” Journal of Monetary Economics 32, 363–394.

    Google Scholar 

  • Branson, W. H., and H. B. Junz. (1971). “Trends in U.S. Trade and Comparative Advantage,” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 285–338.

  • Davis, S. J. (1992). “Cross-Country Patterns of Change in Relative Wages.” In NBER Macroeconomics Annual, Vol. 7. Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elias, V. J. (1992). Sources of Growth: A Study of Seven Latin American Economies. San Francisco: ICS Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Findlay, R., and H. Kierzkowski. (1983). “International Trade and Human Capital: A Simple General Equilibrium Model,” Journal of Political Economy 91, 957–978.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galor, O., and D. N. Weil. (1996). “The Gender Gap, Fertility, and Growth,” American Economic Review 86, 374–387.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldin, C., and L. F. Katz. (1996). “Technology, Skill, and the Wage Structure: Insights from the Past,” American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings 86, 252–257.

    Google Scholar 

  • Griliches, Z. (1969). “Capital-Skill Complementarity,” Review of Economics and Statistics 51, 465–468.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haley, W. J. (1976). “Estimation of the Earnings Profile from Optimal Human Capital Accumulation,” Econometrica 44, 1223–1238.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammermesh, D. S. (1986). “The Demand for Labor in the Long Run.” In Orley Ashenfelter and R. Layard (eds), The Handbook of Labor Economics, Vol. I. Amsterdam: North-Holland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heckman, J. J. (1975). “Estimates of a Human Capital Production Function Embedded in a Life-Cycle Model of Labor Supply.” In Nestor E. Terleckyi (ed), Household Production and Consumption. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keesing, D. B. (1966). “Labor Skills and Comparative Advantage,” American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings 55, 249–258.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keesing, D. B. (1971). “Different Countries' Labor Skill Coefficients and the Skill Intensity of International Trade Flows,” Journal of International Economics 1, 443–452.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kehoe, T. J. (1994). “Towards a Dynamic General Equilibrium Model of North American Trade.” In Joseph F. Francois and Clinton R. Shiells (eds), Modeling Trade Policy: Applied General Equilibrium Assessments of NAFTA. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, D. I., and R. Topel. (1992). “Labor Markets and Economic Growth: Lessons from Korea's Industrialization, 1970–1990,” working paper, University of Chicago.

  • Krusell, P., et al. (1996). “Capital-Skill Complementarity and Inequality,” working paper, University of Rochester.

  • Kwark, N.-S., and C. Rhee. (1992). “Educational Wage Differentials in Korea,” working paper, University of Rochester.

  • Leamer, E. (1984). Sources of International Comparative Advantage. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Londono de la Cuesta, J. L. (1990). “Income Distribution During the Structural Transformation: Columbia 1938–1988.” Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University.

  • Lucas, R. E. Jr. (1988). “On the Mechanics of Economic Development,” Journal of Monetary Economics 22, 3–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mincer, J. (1974). Schooling, Experience, and Learning. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulligan, C. B. (1992). “Computing Transitional Dynamics in Recursive Growth Models: The Method of Progressive Paths,” working paper, University of Chicago.

  • Murphy, K. M., and F. Welch. (1992). “The Structure of Wages,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 107, 285–326.

    Google Scholar 

  • Psacharopoulos, G., and Y. C. Ng. (1994). “Earnings and Education in Latin America,” Education Economics 2, 187–207.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stokey, N. L., and S. Rebelo. (1995). “Growth Effects of Flat Rate Taxes,” Journal of Political Economy 103, 519–550.

    Google Scholar 

  • Summers, R., and A. Heston. (1991). “The Penn World Table (Mark 5): An Expanded Set of International Comparisons, 1950–1988,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 106, 327–368.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waehrer, H. (1968). “Wage Rates, Labor Skills, and United States Foreign Trade,” In Peter B. Kenen and Roger Lawrence (eds), The Open Economy: Essays on International Trade and Finance. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank. (1991). World Development Report.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Stokey, N.L. Free trade, factor returns, and factor accumulation. J Econ Growth 1, 421–447 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00150196

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00150196

Keywords

JEL classification

Navigation