Trading Goods and Trade in Tasks: An Integrating Framework

Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP7775

Authors: Richard Baldwin; Frdric Robert-Nicoud

Abstract: Our paper integrates results from trade-in-task theory into mainstream trade theory by developing trade-in-task analogues to the four famous theorems (Heckscher-Ohlin, factor price equalisation, Stolper-Samuelson, and Rybczynski) and showing the standard gains-from-trade theorem does not hold for trade-in-tasks. We show trade-in-tasks creates intraindustry trade in a Walrasian economy, and derive necessary and sufficient conditions for analyzing the impact of trade-in-tasks on wages and production. Extensions of the integrating framework easily accommodate monopolistic competition and two-way offshoring/trade-in-tasks.

Keywords: globalisation; offshoring; trade in tasks; trade theory

JEL Codes: F11; F12; F16


Causal Claims Network Graph

Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.


Causal Claims

CauseEffect
trade in tasks (F16)wages (J31)
trade in tasks (F16)production (L23)
trade in tasks (F16)effective factor price divergence (F16)
trade in tasks (F16)comparative advantages (F11)
trade in tasks (F16)new patterns of trade (F12)

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