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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Selected Works

2002

International Trade

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Labour-Market Effects Of Intra-Industry Trade: Evidence For The United Kingdom, Marius Brulhart, Robert J.R. Elliott Jul 2002

Labour-Market Effects Of Intra-Industry Trade: Evidence For The United Kingdom, Marius Brulhart, Robert J.R. Elliott

Robert J R Elliott

According to the “smooth adjustment hypothesis”, the labour-market adjustment costs entailed by trade liberalisation are lower if trade expansion is intra-industry rather than inter-industry in nature. In this paper, we study the link between trade and labour market changes in UK manufacturing industries during the 1980s. We use industry-level measures of unemployment duration and wage variability as proxies for adjustment costs, and we relate them to various measures of intra-industry trade. Our evidence offers some support for the smooth adjustment hypothesis.