The purpose of this paper is to examine income inequality in the process of economic growth and structural transformation with emphasis on the role of economic openness using a new measure of trade openness (the price convergence index [PCI]), which is an alternative measure to the widely used trade‐to‐GDP ratio. The analysis is based on a multi‐country panel data covering 48 countries for the period from 1960 to 2010. The results suggest that an increase in the share of employment in manufacturing is associated with a reduction in income inequality. This inequality‐reducing effect is significantly greater for countries with more open trade regimes. In addition, the Kuznets‐type relationship exists between services employment share and income inequality, with inequality first increasing with the movement of workers from agriculture to services and then decreasing. This inequality‐increasing effect of services employment share is also larger for countries with more open trade regimes. The findings withstand the inclusion of relevant explanatory variables, an alternative measure of income inequality, and alternative estimator to address possible endogeneity.

中文翻译：

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结构转型和不平等：贸易开放重要吗？

本文的目的是使用一种新的贸易开放度指标（价格趋同指数[PCI]）来考察经济增长和结构转型过程中的收入不平等，重点强调经济开放度的作用，该指标是贸易开放度的替代指标。广泛使用的贸易与 GDP 之比。该分析基于涵盖 1960 年至 2010 年期间 48 个国家的多国面板数据。结果表明，制造业就业比例的增加与收入不平等的减少有关。对于贸易制度更加开放的国家来说，这种减少不平等的效果要大得多。此外，服务业就业份额与收入不平等之间存在库兹涅茨式关系，不平等首先随着工人从农业转向服务业而增加，然后减少。对于贸易制度更加开放的国家来说，服务业就业份额增加不平等的影响也更大。研究结果经得起纳入相关解释变量、收入不平等的替代衡量标准以及解决可能的内生性问题的替代估计量。