Person:
Robertson, Raymond
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Fields of Specialization
International trade,
Labor economics
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Last updated
June 6, 2023
Biography
Dr. Raymond Robertson is a professor and holder of the Helen and Roy Ryu Chair in Economics and Government in the Department of International Affairs at the Bush School of Government and Public Service. He is a research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor in Bonn, Germany.
Robertson earned a BA in political science and economics from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and an MS and PhD in economics from the University of Texas at Austin. He has taught at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, and was a visiting professor in the Department of Economics at the Graduate School of Administration, Monterrey Institute of Technology’s Mexico City campus.
Widely published in the field of labor economics and international economics, Robertson currently chairs the US Department of Labor’s National Advisory Committee for Labor Provisions of the US Free Trade Agreements and is a member of the Center for Global Development’s advisory board.
Publication Search Results
1 - 5 of 5
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Publication
Has NAFTA Increased Labor Market Integration between the United States and Mexico?
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2005-09)This article analyzes three criteria for labor market integration between Mexico and the United States (U.S.) before and since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA): the responsiveness of Mexican wages to US wage shocks, the speed at which relative wages return to a long-run differential, and changes in the rate of convergence of absolute wages. Tests for increased integration using these three criteria generate mixed results, which are then explored by directly incorporating trade, foreign direct investment (FDI), and migration. The results suggest that trade and FDI did in fact positively contribute to integration but that the increase in border enforcement depressed Mexican wages, masking the positive benefits. -
Publication
Mexican Employment Dynamics : Evidence from Matched Firm-Worker Data
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-12)Using a census of all workers in private establishments in the formal sector in Mexico to track workers and establishments over time, this paper presents the first Mexican worker and job flow statistics. The data allow for comparing these flows across time, space, and worker characteristics. Although many patterns are similar to those documented in developing countries, the analysis uncovers patterns that have potentially important policy implications. The authors compare the results to the literature, illustrate how the statistics change during times of reform and crisis, and present novel findings that contribute to the broader literature on worker reallocations. -
Publication
Tracking Wage Inequality Trends with Prices and Different Trade Models: Evidence from Mexico
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-11)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. -
Publication
The Promise and Peril of Post-MFA Apparel Production
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-05)For anyone concerned about the effects of globalization on poverty in developing countries, the apparel sector in general and the end of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA) and the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) in particular are key areas of interest. As an important first step toward industrialization, the apparel sector continues to provide an alternative for workers in low-wage agriculture or service jobs (especially less-skilled workers and women), even after other manufacturing sectors are established. By providing formal labor experience, these jobs hold the promise of lifelong participation in the labor market, which in the long term can help workers move out of poverty. Therefore, understanding how employment, wage premiums, and the structure of the apparel industry have changed after the end of the MFA and ATC is important to appreciate the effects of this significant policy change on poverty. -
Publication
Globalization, Wages, and the Quality of Jobs : Five Country Studies
(World Bank, 2009)The country studies in this volume analyze the link between globalization and working conditions in Cambodia, El Salvador, Honduras, Indonesia, and Madagascar. These countries vary significantly in population, economic circumstances, region, history, and institutions. All have experienced liberalization and globalization in the last 20 years. The heterogeneity of these countries provides the basis for a useful comparison of the effects of globalization on working conditions. As suggested in the framework, each country study has three main components: a description of the country's experience with globalization, a qualitative part that analyzes country-specific aspects of working conditions, and an analysis of changes in interindustry wage differentials (IIWDs) that can be compared across countries. In general, globalization has been characterized by export-driven foreign direct investment (FDI) concentrated in relatively few sectors. Export-driven FDI in the apparel sector plays a prominent role in each country, although to varying degrees. In Cambodia, apparel made up 82 percent of all merchandise exports in 2003. Nearly two-thirds of that total was destined for the U.S. market. Virtually all factories in the Cambodian garment sector are foreign owned. Honduras rose from being the 34th largest supplier of apparel to the United states (U.S.) market in 1990 to fourth place in 2003. In 2003, two-thirds of all Honduran exports to the U.S. were garments and more than 82 percent of all Honduran workers worked in foreign-owned factories. A similar pattern emerges for El Salvador. For Madagascar, apparel exports from the Zone Franche were the primary force behind the country's remarkable export growth and its transition from exporting primary products to exporting manufactured products between 1990 and 2005. By 2001, Madagascar had become the second most important clothing exporter in Sub-Saharan Africa as measured by total export value.