Trade, labor market rigidity, and distributive share in a generalized oligopolistic equilibrium model

Abstract

This paper applies a generalized oligopolistic equilibrium model with labor rigidity under strategic competition between heterogeneous firms, explaining the trade between two similar countries for the declining wage and labor share, the common experiences of many countries worldwide. The specialization effect for the labor movement from a high to less labor-intensive sector arising from the heterogeneous productivity distribution of firms between trading partners dampens the wage more than the joint effect of market size and competition working favorably on it. Despite the wage drop, the trade ambiguously affects employment but unambiguously reduces their distributive share.