A Gender-Focused Macro-Micro Analysis of the Poverty Impacts of Trade Liberalization in South Africa

Abstract

Despite the general presumption in favor of trade liberalization, the question of how to implement it in a way

Trade liberalization, employment and inequality in India and South Africa

“…16 Namely, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. 17 Suggestive in this regard are the contrasting results between Thurlow (2006) and Cockburn et al (2007) on the gender wage gap, even though both studies use CGE models based on the 1993 SAM for South Africa.…”

“…However, capital and skilled labour -concentrated in higher-income households -are found to have gained disproportionately, meaning that tariff reduction led to greater income inequality. 11 Cockburn et al (2007) also use a CGE model based on a 1993 SAM to simulate the effects of tariff reductions, based on the scenario that import tariffs are completely eliminated and government revenue is held constant through an adjustment to indirect taxes. Like Thurlow (2006), Cockburn et al find that tariff reduction led to greater income inequality.…”

Growing Income Inequalities

“…They find that tariff reductions increased income inequality. However, in contrast to Thurlow, Cockburn et al (2007) find that tariff reductions widened the gender wage gap and deepened poverty. Edwards (2004a) shows that import penetration between 1997 and 2000 had a negative effect on employment in large firms, but not in small firms.…”

“…Edwards (2004b) finds that tariff reductions had a negative effect on wages compared to returns to capital between 1988 and 2002, and thus increased income inequality between labour and capital. Thurlow (2006) and Cockburn et al (2007) use a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model based on factor content of trade to simulate the effects of tariff reductions on income inequality. They find that tariff reductions increased income inequality.…”

Gender and trade in Africa: Case study of Niger

“…Studies suggest that the nutritional status of children may be at risk, particularly when men have control over the family income (Cagatay 2001). The expansion of women's economic activities may increase their overall work burdens when the time spent as an unpaid household worker remains (Cagatay 2010;Cockburn et al 2007).…”