Publication: Dynamic Exports and Labor Markets for Inclusive Growth in Cambodia
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Published
2024-09-09
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Date
2024-09-09
Author(s)
Kokas, Deeksha
Roche Rodriguez, Jaime Alfonso
Karamba, Wendy
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Abstract
Cambodia’s rapid economic growth in the past few decades has coincided with trade liberalization and structural transformation. This growth has been extensively associated with more employment, higher wages, shared prosperity, and poverty reduction. By combining two complementary approaches, the gravity model and the Bartik model, this paper estimates: (i) the relationship between trade agreements and trade flows, and (ii) the relationship between trade exposure and various local labor market outcomes. The gravity estimates show that trade agreements between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are positively related with trade flows, and that Cambodia’s specific gains from these increases in trade have been larger than for the average trade agreement. This has led to better results for workers in Cambodia’s local labor markets. The shift-share Bartik results suggest that increases in trade exposure in Cambodian districts between 2009 and 2019 correlate with reduced informality and an increase in hours worked, with more positive effects for female workers.
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“Kokas, Deeksha; Roche Rodriguez, Jaime Alfonso; Lopez-Acevedo, Gladys; Robertson, Raymond; Karamba, Wendy. 2024. Dynamic Exports and Labor Markets for Inclusive Growth in Cambodia. Policy Research Working Paper; 10895. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/42128 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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