Jan M. Podivinsky: This paper is motivated by earlier research on the effect of increased import competition in final goods markets upon domestic employment and wages. Although much of this research points to negative effects of import competition on wages, there is some evidence of a positive effect upon firms’ productivity, potentially increasing wages for these firms’ workers. Much of this evidence is based on worker-level panel data, in a range of developed and developing countries. The notable exception is Japan, where such worker-level panel data do not exist because government surveys do not contain worker identification information.
Endoh addresses this exception and provides a significant addition to this literature, by first constructing a viable matched worker-firm panel for Japan, and then using this panel to provide the first evidence for the effects of import competition in final goods markets upon wages in Japan.
Endoh approaches the construction of a...