scholarly journals The World Technology Frontier

2006 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 499-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Caselli ◽  
Wilbur John Coleman
Keyword(s):  
Skilled Labor ◽  
Simple Explanation ◽  
Unskilled Labor ◽  
Skilled Workers ◽  
Poor Countries ◽  
Aggregate Production Function ◽  
Unskilled Workers ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
Rich Countries ◽  
Lower Income Countries

We study cross-country differences in the aggregate production function when skilled and unskilled labor are imperfect substitutes. We find that there is a skill bias in cross-country technology differences. Higher-income countries use skilled labor more efficiently than lower-income countries, while they use unskilled labor relatively and, possibly, absolutely less efficiently. We also propose a simple explanation for our findings: rich countries, which are skilled-labor abundant, choose technologies that are best suited to skilled workers; poor countries, which are unskilled-labor abundant, choose technologies more appropriate to unskilled workers. We discuss alternative explanations, such as capital-skill complementarity and differences in schooling quality.

scholarly journals If Technology Has Arrived Everywhere, Why Has Income Diverged?

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 137-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Comin ◽  
Martí Mestieri
Keyword(s):  
Technology Diffusion ◽  
Aggregate Productivity ◽  
Poor Countries ◽  
Income Divergence ◽  
Evolution Of Technology ◽  
World Income ◽  
World Income Distribution ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Rich Countries

We study the cross-country evolution of technology diffusion over the last two centuries. We document that adoption lags between poor and rich countries have converged, while the intensity of use of adopted technologies of poor countries relative to rich countries has diverged. The evolution of aggregate productivity implied by these trends in technology diffusion resembles the actual evolution of the world income distribution in the last two centuries. Cross-country differences in adoption lags account for a significant part of the cross-country income divergence in the nineteenth century. The divergence in intensity of use accounts for the divergence during the twentieth century. (JEL N10, N70, O14, O33, O41, O47)

Introduction and Preliminaries

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Caselli
Keyword(s):  
Technical Change ◽  
Relative Efficiency ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Physical Capital ◽  
Mineral Deposits ◽  
Unskilled Labor ◽  
Poor Countries ◽  
Absolute Efficiency ◽  
Rich Countries ◽  
Analytical Tools

This book examines how the mode of production, or production technology, varies systematically across countries, depending on their endowments of different factors of production. Using aggregate production functions as analytical tools, the book shows that technology differences and technical change are factor biased: they change not only the overall efficiency with which a country exploits its bundle of productive inputs, but also the relative efficiency with which different factors contribute to production. It argues that the efficiency with which skilled labor is used relative to unskilled labor is greater in richer countries than in poorer countries. It also explains why the efficiency with which reproducible capital (equipment and structure) is used relative to natural capital (mineral deposits, land, timber, etc.) is higher in rich countries, and the absolute efficiency with which physical capital is used appears to be not lower, and may even be higher, in poor countries.

scholarly journals The Relative Efficiency of Skilled Labor across Countries: Measurement and Interpretation

2022 ◽  
Vol 112 (1) ◽  
pp. 235-266
Author(s):  
Federico Rossi
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Relative Efficiency ◽  
Skilled Labor ◽  
Stages Of Development ◽  
Skill Bias ◽  
Development Accounting ◽  
Country Differences ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
Rich Countries ◽  
High Skill

I study how the relative efficiency of high- and low-skill labor varies across countries. Using microdata for countries at different stages of development, I document that differences in relative quantities and wages are consistent with high-skill workers being relatively more productive in rich countries. I exploit variation in the skill premia of foreign-educated migrants to discriminate between two possible drivers of this pattern: cross-country differences in the skill bias of technology and in the relative human capital of skilled labor. I find that the former is quantitatively more important, and discuss the implications of this result for development accounting. (JEL I26, J24, J31, J61, L16, O15)

scholarly journals Inventory Management, Product Quality, and Cross‑Country Income Differences

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 338-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernardo S. Blum ◽  
Sebastian Claro ◽  
Kunal Dasgupta ◽  
Ignatius J. Horstmann
Keyword(s):  
Product Quality ◽  
Inventory Management ◽  
Reduced Form ◽  
Poor Countries ◽  
Quality Upgrading ◽  
Country Differences ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
Export Destination ◽  
The One ◽  
Rich Countries

Previous research has documented that export shipments are “lumpy”— exporters make infrequent and relatively large shipments to any given export destination. This fact has been interpreted as implying that fixed, per shipment cost and inventory management decisions play a key role in international trade. We document here that exports from poor countries are considerably more lumpy—have higher fixed per shipment cost— than those from rich countries. Using a model of trade with inventory management, we estimate that the country at the ninetieth percentile of the distribution of per shipment costs has almost three times higher costs than the one at the tenth percentile. We show that these per shipment cost differences have a reduced-form representation given by an ad  valorem trade cost that varies with export country income (as in Waugh 2010 ). A calibrated version of the model that incorporates these estimates and allows for endogenous product quality reveals that cross-country differences in per shipment costs explain almost 40 percent of the observed cross-country differences in income. It also shows that policies that lower per shipment costs can lead to significant welfare gains, mainly due to induced quality upgrading. (JEL F12, F14, F43, G31, O16, O19)

scholarly journals Emigration, Immigration, and Skill Formation: The Case of a Midstream Country

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenji Kondoh
Keyword(s):  
Immigration Policy ◽  
Wage Rate ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
National Income ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Unskilled Labor ◽  
Small Country ◽  
Skilled Workers ◽  
Skill Formation ◽  
Unskilled Workers

This study theoretically investigates the economy of a small country that exports skilled labor to higher developed countries and simultaneously imports unskilled labor from lower developed countries. Compared with the free immigration case, if this country adopts an optimally controlled immigration policy by imposing income tax on immigrants to maximize national income, skills formation is negatively affected and the number of domestic unskilled workers increases. Moreover, under certain conditions, we can assert the counter-intuitive possibility that the wage rate of domestic unskilled workers may decrease but that of skilled workers may increase owing to the restriction of foreign unskilled workers.

scholarly journals PERLINDUNGAN KONSTITUSIONAL BAGI PEKERJA INDONESIA MENURUT HUKUM KETENAGAKERJAAN PADA ERA MASYARAKAT EKONOMI ASEAN (MEA)

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Abdul Hijar Anwar
Keyword(s):  
Mutual Recognition ◽  
Recipient Country ◽  
Free Flow ◽  
Skilled Labor ◽  
Unskilled Labor ◽  
Economic Community ◽  
Skilled Workers ◽  
Dental Practitioners ◽  
Mutual Recognition Arrangement ◽  
Asean Economic Community

At the end of 2015 the Asean Economic Community agreement came into effect which means that there will be a single ASEAN market and production base that has five basic elements, namely a) free flow of goods, b) free flow of services services), c) free flow of investment, d) free flow of capital, and e) free flow of skilled labor. In addition to the five basic elements, the single market and production base must also contain two important components, namely priority integration sectors (PIS) and the development of the food, agriculture and forestry sectors. In terms of the free flow of labor, not all workers can compete, the ASEAN economic community limits only to skilled workers. Through the 2015 ASEAN economic community, there will be job opportunities throughout ASEAN. Job seekers can easily enter and exit from one country to another without any obstacles from the recipient country. However, the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint limits only to skilled labor and there is no discussion about unskilled labor. In an effort to support the transfer of skilled workers, all ASEAN member countries signed an MRA (Mutual Recognition Arrangement) on November 19, 2007 consisting of 8 MRAs, including engineering services, architectural services, nurse services ( nursing services), medical practitioners, dental practitioners, accountants services, surveying services, and tourism professionals. So it is feared that Indonesian workers do not compete with foreign workers

scholarly journals The two sector model of learning-by doing and productivity differences

2012 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
pp. 583-598
Author(s):  
Tuna Dinç
Keyword(s):  
Learning By Doing ◽  
Skilled Labor ◽  
Unskilled Labor ◽  
Income Differences ◽  
Sector Model ◽  
Skilled And Unskilled Labor ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
Relative Factor

This paper proposes that even when all countries have access to common technology frontier and can use the technologies which are fully appropriate to their needs, there will still be productivity differences across countries depending on their relative skill endowments. To illustrate this view, we have constructed a two sector model of productivity differences in which the level of technology is determined endogenously depending on the aggregate capital externalities. The relative supply of skilled and unskilled labor determines the direction of technical choices of the countries and differences in these relative factor supplies lead to cross-country income differences combined with the fact that capital is more productive in the advance of the skilled labor complement technologies than in the unskilled labor complement technologies.

Technology Differences over Space and Time

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Caselli
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Technical Change ◽  
Technology Choice ◽  
Skilled Workers ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Production Factors ◽  
Unskilled Workers ◽  
Flexible Framework ◽  
Rich Countries ◽  
Over Time

This book examines how countries use their productive resources—such as workers, skills, equipment and structures, and natural resources. It develops methods to assess the efficiency with which productive inputs are used, and how these efficiencies vary across countries and over time. The book finds that richer countries use skilled workers relatively more efficiently than unskilled workers, and equipment and structures relatively more efficiently than natural resources. They also are relatively more efficient users of labor than of capital. Technological change tends to make countries particularly efficient at using skills and less efficient at using capital. Technical change also favors experienced workers. In order to interpret and understand these findings, the book presents a theory of technology choice. In this theory, firms pick technologies that make the most efficient use of the most abundant production factors when these factors are good substitutes for the less abundant factors. Firms pick technologies that make the most of less abundant factors when other suitable factors are not available for substitution. For example, rich countries, where skilled workers are abundant, use skilled workers efficiently, as these are good substitutes for unskilled workers. This flexible framework can be applied to other pairs of inputs, over time, and across countries. The book has significant implications not only for the theoretical understanding of development and technological innovation, but also for government formulation of industrial policy and multinationals making decisions about what to invest in and where to make those investments.

Economic Development, Trade and Wages

2003 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald W. Jones ◽  
Sugata Marjit
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Wage Rate ◽  
Physical Capital ◽  
Skilled Labor ◽  
Unskilled Labor ◽  
Skilled Workers ◽  
Neighborhood Structure ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Specific Factors

Abstract. We present models that allow the use of unskilled and skilled labor as well as capital and land. Thus agriculture, important in developing countries, can be included as well as two types of labor and a single (or two) type(s) of physical capital. The models are related to the simple 3x2 specific factors structure by means of what is called the linear neighborhood structure, wherein no activity uses more than two factors, and the two types of labor work in separated sectors, using in common a type of physical capital. We discuss how wage rate changes are related when endowments change, when agriculture becomes traded and prices rise, and when unskilled labor becomes educated and joins the ranks of skilled workers.

scholarly journals The extent of upskilling of the argentine labor market: a simple analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (56) ◽  
pp. 37-56
Author(s):  
Alexis S. Esposto ◽  
Luis Federico Giménez
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Labor Demand ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Skilled Labor ◽  
Skilled Workers ◽  
Simple Analysis ◽  
Job Growth ◽  
Skill Requirement ◽  
Unskilled Workers ◽  
Using Data

Over the last three decades the labor market of most developed countries have experienced a sustained period of upskilling. This means an overall increase in the skill requirement of jobs determined by the demand for skilled labor. This suggests that their labor demand has become more skill intensive, shifting towards skilled workers relatively to unskilled workers. An analysis of job growth of the Argentine labor market between 1997 and 2009 using data from the EPH, evidences a process of deskilling over this period, with serious implications in terms of competitiveness and about issues related to increasing social and economic inequality.

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