Replication data for: Export Markets and Labor Allocation in a Low-Income Country

Summary:  View help for Summary We study the effects of a positive export shock on labor allocation between the informal, microenterprise sector and the formal firm sector in a low-income country. The United States-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement led to large reductions in US tariffs on Vietnamese exports. We find that the share of manufacturing workers in Vietnam in the formal sector increased by 5 percentage points in response to the US tariff reductions. The reallocation was greater for workers in more internationally integrated provinces and for younger cohorts. We estimate the gap in labor productivity within manufacturing across the informal and formal sectors. This gap and the aggregate labor productivity gain from the export-induced reallocation of workers across the two sectors are reduced when we account for worker heterogeneity, measurement error, and differences in labor intensity of production.

JEL Classification:  View help for JEL Classification
      F16 Trade and Labor Market Interactions
      J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
      O14 Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology
      O17 Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
      O19 International Linkages to Development; Role of International Organizations
      P23 Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies: Factor and Product Markets; Industry Studies; Population
      P33 Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions: International Trade, Finance, Investment, Relations, and Aid