Rethinking the foundations of Heckscher–Ohlin theory when countries have different technologies, this paper shows how to make the proper adjustments for international productivity differences. The central tool is a factor conversion matrix that computes the local factor content of foreign Rybczynski effects. Factor-specific productivities are a special case of these more general linear relation...

This paper examines the effect of changes in factor endowments on income distribution in a four-factor, three-commodity model, in which two of the factors are region-specific while the other two are inter-regionally and inter-sectorally mobile. We provide an intermediate run model which bridges the gap between the Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson and the specific factor models, and which yields result...

This paper develops and evaluates a novel mechanism through which imports of unskilled intermediates (offshoring) increase wages of both skilled and unskilled workers by inducing skill-biased technology adoption and innovation in developed countries. Data for a panel of manufacturing industries in the United States over 1974-2005, strongly support the technology channel with a doubling of offsh...

We decompose the factor content of trade into Heckscher–Ohlin–Vanek trade and Ricardian trade. We measure factor content using only the United States' technology and also as Leontief advocated, using the local technology. In either case, differences in endowments are quite important in explaining the factor content of trade. If one uses raw estimated coefficients as a means of comparison, diffe...