Non-traded Gains From Trade - Selection in the Non-Traded Sector: Evidence from Brazil

Non-traded Gains From Trade - Selection in the Non-Traded Sector: Evidence from Brazil
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Volume/Issue: Volume 2023 Issue 265
Publication date: December 2023
ISBN: 9798400263033
$20.00
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Topics covered in this book

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Labor , Exports and Imports , Economics- Macroeconomics , Economics / General , Gains from trade , trade liberalization , non-traded sector , firm Selection , import liberalization policy , importing behavior , trade shock , margin reallocation , reallocation effect , Imports , Labor markets , Trade policy , Employment

Summary

We investigate how trade shocks affect the allocation of labor across plants at the local labor market level. Using Brazil’s import liberalization as a quasi-natural experiment, we uncover a new margin for the gains from trade: the reallocation of labor from smaller to larger producers in the non-traded sector. We find that in response to liberalization, larger non-traded producers self-select into importing, expanding as they gain access to inputs from abroad. We then develop a parsimonious model of heterogeneous producers incorporating this mechanism. The theory is consistent with the empirical findings and show that reallocation among non-traded producers is welfare-enhancing. In contrast, this reallocation effect disappears when all nontraded producers make the same importing decision.