Exports and Wages: Rent Sharing, Workforce Composition, or Returns to Skills?

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Labor Economics
Year: 2016
Volume: 34
Issue: 4
Pages: 945 - 978

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We use linked employer-employee data from Italy to explore the relationship between exports and wages. Exploiting the 1992 devaluation of the lira, we show that exporting firms both pay a wage premium above what their workers would earn in the outside labor market (the “rent-sharing” effect) and employ workers whose skills command a higher price after the devaluation (the “skill composition” effect). The latter only emerges once we allow for the value of workers’ skills to differ in the pre- and post-devaluation periods. We also document that the export wage premium is larger for workers with more export-related experience.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:ucp:jlabec:doi:10.1086/686275
Journal Field
Labor
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-26