Trade liberalisation and manufacturing wage premiums: evidence from Thailand

Authors

Kankesu Jayanthakumaran, University of WollongongFollow
Piyapong Sangkaew, University of WollongongFollow
Martin O'Brien, University of WollongongFollow

RIS ID

81692

Publication Details

Jayanthakumaran, K., Sangkaew, P. & O'Brien, M. (2013). Trade liberalisation and manufacturing wage premiums: evidence from Thailand. Journal of Asian Economics, 29 (2013), 15-23.

Abstract

This paper investigates trade related industrial wage premiums. The procedure involves (1) estimating industrial wage premiums and (2) linking those estimated wage premiums to trade related variables. Results reveal that (1) in addition to workers' characteristics, industry characteristics where workers are employed were important in determining the wages for workers, (2) falling output tariffs resulted in increased wage premiums, and (3) an increase in intermediate imports exerted a strong positive influence on wage premiums. Linked employer and employee micro data may provide further insights which are currently not available.