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  1. Home
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  3. American Economic Review
  4. May 2012
  5. Liberalized Trade and Worker-Firm Matching

American Economic Review

ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)

Liberalized Trade and Worker-Firm Matching

  • Carl Davidson
  • Fredrik Heyman
  • Steven Matusz
  • Fredrik Sjöholm
  • Susan Chun Zhu
American Economic Review
vol. 102, no. 3, May 2012
(pp. 429–34)
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Abstract

Recent theoretical analysis suggests that a reduction in the cost of exporting increases the degree of assortative matching between workers and firms in export-oriented industries. Changes that reduce the cost of imports have an ambiguous impact on matching. We combine detailed Swedish matched worker-firm data from 1995-2005 with tariff data to test these hypotheses. The data cover 94 sectors subject to international competition and include all firms with at least 20 employees. Our findings strongly support the theoretical predictions.

Citation

Davidson, Carl, Fredrik Heyman, Steven Matusz, Fredrik Sjöholm, and Susan Chun Zhu. 2012. "Liberalized Trade and Worker-Firm Matching." American Economic Review 102 (3): 429–34. DOI: 10.1257/aer.102.3.429

JEL Classification

  • F16 Trade and Labor Market Interactions
  • J41 Labor Contracts