Gladys Lopez-Acevedo | Searcharxiv

arXiv2025

Exports, Labor Markets, and the Environment: Evidence from Brazil

What is the environmental impact of exports? Focusing on 2000-20, this paper combines customs, administrative, and census microdata to estimate employment elasticities with respect to exports. The findings show that municipalities that faced increased exports experienced faster growth in formal employment. The elasticities were 0.25 on impact, peaked at 0.4, and remained positive and significant even 10 years after the shock, pointing to a long and protracted labor market adjustment. In the long run, informal employment responds negatively to export shocks. Using a granular taxonomy for economic activities based on their environmental impact, the paper documents that environmentally risky activities have a larger share of employment than environmentally sustainable ones, and that the relationship between these activities and exports is nuanced. Over the short run, environmentally risky employment responds more strongly to exports relative to environmentally sustainable employment. However, over the long run, this pattern reverses, as the impact of exports on environmentally sustainable employment is more persistent.

econ.GN↗

arXiv2023

Gender-Segmented Labor Markets and Foreign Demand Shocks

Gender segmentation in labor markets shapes the local effects of international trade. We develop a theory that combines exports with gender-segmented labor markets and show that, in this framework, foreign demand shocks may either increase or decrease the female-to-male employment ratio. If a foreign demand shock happens in a female-intensive (male-intensive) sector, the model predicts that the female-to-male employment ratio should increase (decrease). We then use plausibly exogenous variation in the exposure of Tunisian local labor markets to foreign demand shocks and show that the empirical results are consistent with the theoretical prediction. In Tunisia, a developing country with a high degree of gender segmentation in labor markets, foreign-demand shocks have been relatively larger in male-intensive sectors. This induced a decrease in the female-to-male employment ratio, with households likely substituting female for male labor supply.

econ.GN↗