Inheritance, Search Friction and International Trade: A General Equilibrium Model

In a general equilibrium framework, an economy, with one non-traded final good and two traded intermediate goods, is modeled in this paper. It is shown that even if the economy consists of one frictionless labor market and a labor market with the search-friction, a status-conscious preference can yield unemployment in equilibrium. If such an economy opens up to trade then comparative advantage can be generated through the difference in the degree of the labor market imperfection even between two otherwise very similar countries. This setup rejects the possibility of complete specialization. Wage inequality persists within the country, for both home and foreign, in spite of free trade and, free trade does not guarantee the reduction of unemployment.