Trade and long-term unemployment: A quantitative assessment

We develop a multi-country, multi-sector, gravity model with trade frictions in the wake of Eaton and Kortum (2002) and Costinot, Donaldson and Komunjer (2012), which allows for labour market frictions as per Diamond-Mortensen-Pissarides and long-term equilibrium unemployment level as in Helpman and Itskhoki (2010). We find that trade liberalisation may lead to a rise in unemployment if it results in labour reallocation towards sectors with higher-than-average labour market frictions. We calibrate the model using panel trade data and estimated sector-specific labour market frictions to evaluate the employment and welfare effects of the potential Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on US and EU employment rates