As a card-carrying economist, I like trade--overall, it potentially enriches countries that engage in it. The problem is the meaning of enrichment.
Trade theory says that trade enlarges the pie that people share. But among the most important contributions to trade theory is the Samuelson-Stolper Theorem, which says that relatively scarce factors of production see their returns fall when trade is introduced. In the context of an economy like the US, this means that low skilled workers see their wages fall in the presence of trade. The trajectory of wages in the US over the past 20 years or so is consistent with the predictions of Samuelson and Stolper.
NAFTA was sold to the US public as something that would make everyone better off. And in principle, it could have done so, had some of the gains to those who benefited from NAFTA been redistributed to those who lost as a result of it. Instead we got the NAFTA but not redistribution. This likely explains the widening disparity of incomes.
Trade theory says that trade enlarges the pie that people share. But among the most important contributions to trade theory is the Samuelson-Stolper Theorem, which says that relatively scarce factors of production see their returns fall when trade is introduced. In the context of an economy like the US, this means that low skilled workers see their wages fall in the presence of trade. The trajectory of wages in the US over the past 20 years or so is consistent with the predictions of Samuelson and Stolper.
NAFTA was sold to the US public as something that would make everyone better off. And in principle, it could have done so, had some of the gains to those who benefited from NAFTA been redistributed to those who lost as a result of it. Instead we got the NAFTA but not redistribution. This likely explains the widening disparity of incomes.
Hi, its a bad news about the circumstances in US and Eurozone, low wage workers are the back bone on an economy to provide all the services in an economy, they must be pay off in a well defined manner, their basic needs must be satisfied within their earnings. The emerging business like Clearwater Real Estate look after the residential problems for the every class in the society
ReplyDeleteI agree with you 100%, but I just came across something that made me wonder what the best measure of wages is. I've always used Table B-47 for real weekly wages of production and nonsupervisory workers (Econ Report of the President), which shows the peak came in 1972. But it also shows pretty consistent increases since 1992. Any idea what gives?
ReplyDeleteGreat Post! It's very nice to read this info from someone that actually knows what they are talking about.commercial REO Properties for Sale
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