Two essays on trade and quality upgrading

• Ano de defesa: 2019
• Autor(a) principal: Pinto, Victor Henrique Lana
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Viçosa
• Palavras-chave em Português: Comércio internacional; Integração econômica internacional; Qualidade dos produtos; Exportação - Qualidade; Importação - Qualidade; Salários; Economia Internacional
• Link de acesso: https://locus.ufv.br//handle/123456789/27503

International trade represents an important driver to the development of nations. It raises living standards, creates employment, and enables consumers to enjoy a greater variety of products. However, countries do not pursue to engage in international trade solely targeting higher trade flow levels. Many economies seek to raise the quality of their products in order to gain improved access to the importing market, enhance competitiveness in international trade, increase productivity, pay higher wages, and raise product prices. Given the importance of quality upgrading, this master’s thesis aimed to investigate the relationship between differing levels of economic integration agreements (EIAs) and the quality of exports as well as the link connecting import competition, quality upgrading and wages paid in the destination country. This research is comprised of two chapters. The first of them entitled ‘Economic trade agreements and quality upgrading: does depth matter?’ and the second of them ‘Import competition induced quality change? The impact of imports on Brazilian wages’. The investigation conducted in the first chapter intended to contribute to the debate with respect to the quality of exports and how it is affected by the most varied types of EIAs. The main results collected evidence that regardless of the exporter or importer income structure, there exists a positive association between most levels of EIAs and the quality of exports. On the other hand, the analyses documented in the second chapter of this thesis sought to establish a relationship between the quality of imports and wages paid in Brazil. The main findings suggested that as the quality of imports increases, products facing foreign competition lead to a rise in wages paid in Brazil. In order to fight international competition, local firms might resort to quality upgrading by hiring skilled workers who, in turn, earn higher wages.