Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP15223
Authors: Giorgio Barba Navaretti; Lionel Fontagné; Gianluca Orefice; Giovanni Pica; Anna Rosso
Abstract: This paper investigates the effects on firms' occupational structure of shocks induced by the intro-duction of Technical Barriers to Trade (TBTs) in importing countries. We rely on the Specific TradeConcern (STC) data released by the WTO to identify trade-restrictive TBT measures, combinedwith matched employer-employee data for the population of French exporters over the period 1995-2010, and with information on the list of product-destinations served by each French exporter. Con-trolling for time-invariant firm/occupation effects and for time-varying sector/occupation shocks,IV estimates show that exporters respond to increased complexity associated with restrictive TBTsat destination by raising the share of managers at the expense of blue collars, white collars andprofessionals. This evidence is consistent with the growing literature exploring how frms organizetheir workforce composition in presence of exogenous (foreign) shocks; and it is also related to thewell-beaten literature on the labour market effects of trade.
Keywords: Skill composition; Labor demand; Trade barriers; Nontariff measures
JEL Codes: F13; J23; L23
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| increase in the number of TBT concerns faced by French exporting firms (F18) | increase in the share of managers in the firm's workforce (M51) |
| increase in the number of TBT concerns faced by French exporting firms (F18) | decrease in the share of professionals (J44) |
| increase in the number of TBT concerns faced by French exporting firms (F18) | decrease in the share of qualified blue collars (J29) |
| increase in the number of TBT concerns faced by French exporting firms (F18) | decrease in the share of non-qualified blue collars (J59) |