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Mexican wage inequality rose following Mexicos accession to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization in 1986. Since the mid-1990s, however, wage inequality has been falling. Since most trade models suggest that output prices can affect factor prices, this paper explores the relationship between output prices and wage inequality. The rise of inequality can be explained by the evolution of the relative price of skill-intensive goods relative to unskilled-intensive goods, but these prices flattened by 1999 and thus cannot explain the subsequent decline in wage inequality. An alternative trade model with firm heterogeneity driven by variations in the relative price of tradable relative to non-tradable goods can explain the decline in wage inequality. The paper compares this model's predictions with Mexican inequality statistics using data on output prices, census data, and quarterly household survey data. In spite of the models simplicity, the model's predictions match Mexican variables reasonably well during the years when wage inequality fell.

Economic theory & research --- Emerging markets --- Firm heterogeneity --- Inequality --- International economics & trade --- Labor markets --- Labor policies --- Macroeconomics and economic growth --- Markets & market access --- Private sector development --- Social protections and labor --- Trade policy

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China has defied the declining trend in domestic content in exports in many countries. This paper studies China's rising domestic content in exports using firm- and customs transaction-level data. The approach embraces firm heterogeneity and hence reduces aggregation bias. The study finds that the substitution of domestic for imported materials by individual processing exporters caused China's domestic content in exports to increase from 65 to 70 percent in 2000-2007. Such substitution was induced by the country's trade and investment liberalization, which deepened its engagement in global value chains and led to a greater variety of domestic materials becoming available at lower prices.

Currencies and exchange rates --- Domestic value added --- E-business --- Economic theory & research --- Fdi liberalization --- Finance and financial sector development --- Firm heterogeneity --- Global value chains --- Macroeconomics and economic growth --- Markets & market access --- Private sector development --- Trade liberalization --- Value added trade --- Water & industry --- Water resources