Technology, Trade, and Factor Prices / Paul Krugman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Krugman, Paul.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w5355.

NBER working paper series no. w5355

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Technological innovations--Economic aspects.

Technological innovations.

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1995.

Cambridge, Massachussetts : National Bureau of Economic Research, [1995]

Summary:

A number of recent studies appear to show that international trade is a secondary factor in the growing inequality of wages, with technology probably the main culprit. These studies have, however, been subjected to severe and in some cases harshly worded criticism by trade theorists, who argue that the authors of these studies have misspecified the impacts of both technology and trade on factor prices. This paper shows that it is the critics who are confused. In particular, much recent discussion about technology, trade, and wages is marked by a failure to distinguish between the models we all use and the particular thought experiments we typically use to teach these models -- which happen not to be the appropriate thought experiments we need to analyze the real-world issues.

Notes:

Print version record

November 1995.