Foreign Competition, Market Power and Wage Inequality: Theory and Evidence

In this paper, we present theory and evidence on the link between wage inequality and foreign competition in concentrated industries. We develop a simple model in which the impact of foreign competition on the relative wages of an economy depends on the market structure of the industry penetrated. We show that the more concentrated is the industry, the greater is the impact of trade on general wage inequality. We use the theory to argue why import competition in an industry such as automobiles is much more deleterious to the wages of the less educated than import competition in an industry such as apparel. We then test our hypothesis using a panel data set on relative wages across SMSAs. We reinterpret our model as a model of local economies, and test it using both the cross-sectional and time- series variation across labor markets.

Market Responses to Interindustry Wage Differentials

This paper examines the link between interindustry wage differentials and subsequent growth of industry variables such as employment, GDP and labor productivity. We find that industries that paid higher than average wages in 1959 experienced significantly lower employment growth and GDP growth in the subsequent 30 to 40 years, while at the same time experiencing higher-than-average growth in the capital-labor ratio and in labor productivity. We argue that the evidence is best explained by a non-competitive model of the interindustry wage structure, as both firms and the market respond to the wage rigidity implied by the long-run persistence of the interindustry wage structure.

Migration Costs and Networks: household optimal investment in migration

International migration is an expensive form of investment, that only households relatively better off can afford. However poorer households have the higher incentive to migrate. Migration decision is conditional on the entry cost, expected returns and risks of migration. This paper, using data from Mexican rural and urban areas, examines the relation between household and community networks and costs and risks of migration focusing on the optimal investment in migration. To investigate an household optimal number of migrants this paper introduces a Three Step procedure to solve simultaneously for the endogeneity of network size and possible selection of migrants. The analysis confirms the inverted U-shaped relation between wealth and migration, stressing the importance of networks particularly in facilitating the migration of social strata belonging to the left tail of the income distribution. Moreover, in presence of sunk costs and/or high initial investment, household and community networks accomplish different functions

Determinants and consequences of international migration

This chapter provides a simple overview of the canonical model of international migration, discusses the consequences of migration on both sending and receiving countries and draws some considerations on future research prospects for the international migration literature

Hispanic Immigration to the United States

This chapter presents some of the exceptional characteristics of recent Hispanic immigration to the United States. In 2005, there were nearly 40 million Hispanic immigrants and descendants of Hispanic immigrants living in the U.S. The assimilation experience of this large cultural group does not seem to be following the path past immigrants to the U.S. followed. Most third generation Hispanics in the U.S. still find themselves with income and education levels below the U.S. averages. Most forecasts predict that about 60 million Hispanics and Hispanic-Americans will be living in the U.S. by 2030

PERSPECTIVAS DA AVALIAÇÃO GENÉTICA MULTIRRACIAL EM BOVINOS NO BRASIL

A disponibilidade de grandes bases de dados em associações de diferentes raças e cruzamentos de bovinos,e a demanda crescente dos produtores por avaliações genéticas dos animais de raças puras e cruzados têm renovado o interesse na implementação de procedimentos de avaliação genética multirracial. Na maioria das associações de criadores dos Estados Unidos está sendo aplicada a avaliação genética de animais puros e cruzados.O Brasil, com sua enorme população bovina (167 milhões),composta amplamente por Zebu e seus cruzamentos (80%),e muitas grandes e bem estruturadas empresas (várias com dez mil animais ou mais), é provável que possua um expressivo número de bases de dados apropriadas para ser analisado por meio de procedimentos de avaliação genética multirracial. Comumente, no entanto, neste país são usados procedimentos de avaliação genética intra-racial independentemente da composição genética das populações bovinas. Os procedimentos intra-raciais ignoram os efeitos genéticos não-aditivos entre raças, e assumem que os parâmetros genéticos são os mesmos em todos os grupos raciais. Os procedimentos de avaliação genética multirracial incluem ambos os aspectos, assim, eles são preferíveis aos intra-raciais para avaliar geneticamente populações compostas por animais puros e cruzados. Os procedimentos de avaliação genética multirracial produzem predições genéticas aditivas mais acuradas, permitem a comparação direta de animais de diferente composição racial e viabilizam o melhoramento genético aditivo e não-aditivo em populações multirraciais. No entanto, esses procedimentos são computacionalmente mais complexos, requerem maior número de parâmetros genéticos e apresentam problemas de confundimento e multi colinearidade. Neste artigo, caracterizam-se as populações multirraciais, discutem-se modelos de avaliação genética, procedimentos e tarefas para sua implementação, e, quando relevante, apresentam-se comentários gerais sobre a situação multirracial no Brasil. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Bovinos, cruzamento, avaliação genética, multirracial, predição

Aggregate Fluctuations and International Migration

Traditional theories of integration such as the optimum currency area approach attribute a prominent role to international labour mobility in coping with relative economic fluctuations between countries. However, recent studies on international migration have overlooked the role of short-run factors such as business cycles or changes in employment rates in explaining international migration flows. This paper aims to fill that gap. We first derive a model of optimal migration choice based on an extension of the traditional Random Utility Model. Our model predicts that an improvement in the economic activity in a potential destination country relative to any origin country may trigger some additional migration flows on top of the impact exerted by long-run factors such as the wage differential or the bilateral distance. Compiling a dataset with annual gross migration flows between most developed countries over the 1980-2010 period, we empirically test the magnitude of the effect of these short-run factors on bilateral flows. Our econometric results indicate that aggregate fluctuations and employment rates affect the intensity of bilateral migration flows. We also provide compelling evidence that the Schengen agreement and the introduction of the euro significantly raised the international mobility of workers between the member countries

Implementação de Identificação de Sistemas por Subespaços Usando C/C++

Nowadays, an engineer’s work consists more and more of obtaining mathematical models of the studied processes. Great part of the literature referring to system identification deals with how to find polynomial models as Prediction Error Methods (PEM) and Instrumental Variable Methods (IVM). In case of complex systems, the state space model appears as an alternative to PEM and IVM models. For multivariable systems, these methods provide reliable state space models directly from input and output data. As systems of large dimensions are usually found in industry, the application of subspace identification algorithms in this field is very promising. Currently the subspaceidentification models Multivariable Output Error State sPace (MOESP) and Numerical algorithms for Subspace State Space System IDentification (N4SID), are topic of study. The objective of this work is to implement the N4SID algorithm in C/C ++ and in Matlab to identify discrete systems invariant in time operating in open loop, comparing these in relation to performance and processing time.Hoje em dia o trabalho do engenheiro consiste cada vez mais em obter o modelo matemático do processo estudado. A maior parte da literatura referente à identificação de sistemas trata da obtenção de modelos polinomiais como o método de predição de erro (PEM) e método de variáveis instrumentais (IVM). No caso de sistemas complexos, o modelo em espaço de estados aparece como uma alternativa para os modelos PEM e IVM. Sistemas de grandes dimensões são comumente encontrados na indústria, e a aplicação dos algoritmos de identificação por subespaços neste campo é muito promissora. Na atualidade os modelos de identificação por subespaço, Multivariable Output Error State sPace (MOESP) e Numerical algorithms for Subspace State Space System IDentification (N4SID), são temas de estudo. O objetivo deste trabalho é implementar em C/C++ e no Matlab o algoritmo N4SID para identificar sistemas discretos invariantes no tempo operando em malha aberta, comparando estes, em relação ao desempenho e tempo de processamento