Using annual data 1963-1989 for technical progress in GECD countries (as measured by Solow residuals constructed using GECD data made internationally comparable through the use of purchasing power parties), the paper first shows that there has been significant international convergence in the...

Within developing and newly industrialized countries, rising wage inequality is both common and highly correlated with export growth. This is incompatible with the Stolper-Samuelson theorem, but suggestive of a role for technological catch-up. We develop this insight using a model that features...

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...

To explain why trade restrictions sometimes speed up worldwide growth and sometimes slow it down, we exploit an analogy with the theory of consumer behavior. substitution effects make demand curves slope down, but income effects can increase or decrease the slope, and can sometimes overwhelm the...

Recent developments in the theory of economic growth and dynamic trade theory are reviewed and interpreted. These include growth based on economies of scale, trade with product development, and product cycles. It is argued that there is need for more work in this area in order to understand the...

We study optimal dynamic trade policies in an Eaton-Kortum model with technology diffusion through trade. The process of innovation and diffusion is one in which new ideas are combined with insights from others. Trade thus affects technology by determining the distribution from which producers...

In this paper, I develop a model to analyze how skill premia differ over time and across countries, and use this model to study the impact of international trade on wage inequality. Skill premia are determined by technology and the relative supply of skills. An increase in the relative supply of...

Demand for less skilled workers decreased dramatically in the US and in other developed countries over the past two decades. We argue that pervasive skill-biased technological change rather than increased trade with the developing world is the principal culprit. The pervasiveness of this...

We develop an empirical framework to assess the importance of trade and technical change on the wages of production and nonproduction workers. Trade is measured by the foreign outsourcing of intermediate inputs, while technical change is measured by the shift towards high-technology capital such...