Essays on Chilean trade liberalization: The effects on economic growth and wage inequality.

摘要

In the few last decades, liberalization of foreign trade has been a common factor of the reform processes in less developed countries. The effects of this reform on growth and wage distribution have been a central element of the debate in economics and politics.; In this dissertation, the author investigates the Chilean experience. Using time series analysis, Granger-causation from exports to growth, and from different liberalization measures to wage inequality is analyzed. Stationarity is analyzed performing unit root tests. If variables have unit root, 'Johansen Procedure' is applied to test for cointegration.; The results show that causation from exports to GDP is conditional on economic policy. When the country followed an inward-looking strategy, no causation was found. However, after the reforms, a positive causation from exports to GDP is found. This finding is explored further, analyzing the nexus between exports and GDP. Are exports working through capital accumulation or improving country's performance directly? Chilean data show that the positive effect from exports to GDP does not disappear when capital is including in the VAR system.; Finally, positive correlation between liberalization and wage inequality is found in the Chilean data. However, performing Granger-causality tests, the author does not find significant evidence that trade liberalization explains the growing wage gap.