Collaborative Research: Human Capital and Income Inequality

合作研究：人力资本与收入不平等

• 批准号: 0003520
• 负责人: Andrea Moro
• 金额: $ 2万
• 依托单位: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2000
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2000-07-15 至 2001-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0003520&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Human; Capital; Income

In this research project we are interested in exploring the extent ex post inequalities between nations can arise when countries are ex ante identical. We study a model where imperfectly observable human capital investments are introduced in an otherwise standard neoclassical trade framework. Due to interaction between an informational externality and general equilibrium price effects, inequalities may arise in equilibrium when countries specialize in industries with different intensities in human capital. Citizens in the country specializing as a low human capital country are worse off than citizens in the country specializing as a high human capital country. Because incentives to invest are lower in the low human capital country the situation is self-enforcing. Incentives are bad in the poor country two reasons: 1) with few investors someone who "looks good" is more likely an individual with low human capital that got a "lucky draw"; 2) the possibility to import goods intensive in human capital from the other country makes human capital less valuable compared to a situation where countries don't trade. In our research we will explore how these effects interact and the extent the model provides a rationale for specialization as well as provide a number of testable implications of the model.

在该研究项目中，我们有兴趣探索国家之间的事后不平等现象，而当国家相同的国家相同。我们研究了一个模型，其中不可或缺的人力资本投资是在原本标准的新古典贸易框架中引入的。由于信息外部性和一般均衡价格影响之间的相互作用，当国家专门从事人力资本强度不同的行业时，不平等可能会出现不平等。该国的公民专门从事一个低人类资本国家的境地要比该国公民的偏差要糟糕，专门作为一个高人类资本国。 由于在低人类资本国的投资激励措施较低，因此情况是自我强制的。在贫穷国家，激励措施有两个原因：1）很少有“看起来好”的投资者更有可能是一个拥有“幸运抽签”的人； 2）与国家不交易的情况相比，从另一个国家进口人力资本的物品的可能性使人力资本的价值降低了。在我们的研究中，我们将探讨这些效果如何相互作用以及模型为专业化提供了理由，并提供了模型的许多可测试含义。