Trade Liberalization, Firm Performance, and Labor Market Outcomes in the Developing World : What Can We Learn from Micro-Level Data?

Epifani, Paolo

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: AGGREGATE DEMAND;    ALLOCATIVE EFFICIENCY;    AVERAGE PRODUCTIVITY;    BILATERAL TARIFF;    CAPACITY BUILDING;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-3063
RP-ID  :  WPS3063

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

reviews the micro-level evidence on theeffects of trade and investment liberalization in thedeveloping world. He focuses, in particular, on the effectsof the 1991 trade reform in India since it provides anexcellent controlled experiment in which the effects of adrastic trade regime change can be measured. His mainfindings are: 1) There is evidence of trade-inducedproductivity gains (in this respect, however, India is anexception. 2) These gains mainly stem from intra-industryreallocation of resources among firms with differentproductivity levels. 3) The gains are larger inimport-competing sectors. 4) There is no evidence ofsignificant scale efficiency gains. Unilateral tradeliberalization is often associated with a reduced scaleefficiency. 5) There is evidence of a pro-competitive effectof trade liberalization. 6) There is no evidence either oflearning-by-exporting effects or of beneficial spillovereffects from foreign-owned to local firms active in the samesectors. 7) There is evidence, however, of positive verticalspillovers from foreign direct investment. 8) There isevidence of skill upgrading induced either by technologyimports or by trade-induced reallocations of market sharesin favor of plants with higher skill-intensity. 9) There isno evidence of trade-induced increases in labor demandelasticities. But direct evidence suggests that tradeexposure raises wage volatility. 10) There is no evidence ofsubstantial employment contraction in import-competing sectors.