Fair Wage Hypothesis, International Factor Mobility and Skilled-Unskilled Wage Inequality in a Developing Economy

Type Journal Article - Munich Personal RePEc Archive
Title Fair Wage Hypothesis, International Factor Mobility and Skilled-Unskilled Wage Inequality in a Developing Economy
Author(s)
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2008
URL http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/9303/1/Fairwage.pdf
Abstract
Agell and Lundborg (1995, Economica) have accommodated the fair wage hypothesis (FWH) in an otherwise 2×2 Hechscher-Ohlin-Samuelson model for examining the robustness of certain standard trade theorems. The present paper proposes to introduce the FWH in a three sector general equilibrium model with two types of labour: skilled and unskilled. Skilled labour is specific to the high-skill sector and receives the efficiency wage while unskilled labour in the other two sectors receives either the competitive wage or the high unionized wage. Using such a framework the consequences of international mobility of factors of production on the skilledunskilled wage inequality and unemployment of skilled labour in a developing economy have been analyzed. Both foreign capital inflows and emigration of skilled labour improve the skilledunskilled wage inequality under reasonable condition. Particularly, the result relating to emigration of skilled labour is counterintuitive.

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