Abstract

The earnings of individuals depend on the demand for the factor services they supply. International trade may therefore affect earnings inequality because either: (i) foreign consumers and firms demand domestic factor services in different proportions than domestic consumers and firms do, an export channel; or (ii) domestic consumers and firms change their demand for domestic factor services in response to the availability of foreign goods, an import channel. Building on this idea, we develop new measures of export and import exposure at the individual-level and provide estimates of their incidence across the earnings distribution. The key input fed into our empirical analysis is a unique administrative dataset from Ecuador that merges firm-to-firm transaction data, employer-employee matched data, owner-firm matched data, and firm-level customs transaction records. We find that export exposure is pro middle class, that import exposure is pro rich, and that, in terms of overall incidence, the import channel is the dominant force. As a result, earnings inequality in Ecuador is higher than it would be in the absence of trade.

中文翻译：

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进口、出口和收入不平等：暴露测量和事件估计*

摘要

个人的收入取决于对他们提供的要素服务的需求。因此，国际贸易可能会影响收入不平等，因为： (i) 外国消费者和公司对国内要素服务的需求与国内消费者和公司的需求比例不同，这是一种出口渠道；或 (ii) 国内消费者和公司改变他们对国内要素服务的需求，以响应外国商品的供应，这是一种进口渠道。基于这个想法，我们在个人层面开发了新的进出口风险衡量标准，并提供了对它们在整个收入分配中的影响的估计。我们的实证分析的关键输入是来自厄瓜多尔的一个独特的行政数据集，它合并了公司间交易数据、雇主-雇员匹配数据、所有者-公司匹配数据，和公司级别的海关交易记录。我们发现，出口敞口有利于中产阶级，进口敞口有利于富人，从整体发生率来看，进口渠道是主导力量。因此，厄瓜多尔的收入不平等程度高于没有贸易的情况。