This paper examines the empirical relationship between trade agreements and domestic labour mobility. The domestic-commitment motive from Maggi and Rodriguez-Clare (American Economic Review, 97, 2007, 1374) and standard trade models with labour frictions predict that trade liberalisation should occur when labour is more mobile. I find support for this prediction. Using regional trade agreements (RTAs) covering 56 countries in 2015, I show labour mobility is a strong predictor of trade liberalisation. The probability of an RTA increases when the country pair's average domestic labour market is less rigid. When the average labour mobility increases by 1 standard deviation from the mean, the probability of an RTA increases by 14–26%. These results are also consistent with the bound tariffs negotiated under the World Trade Organization, where less rigid labour markets are associated with lower bound tariffs.

中文翻译：

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国内劳动力流动对贸易协定的影响：实证证据

本文考察了贸易协定与国内劳动力流动之间的实证关系。Maggi 和 Rodriguez-Clare 的国内承诺动机（美国经济评论）, 97, 2007, 1374) 和带有劳工摩擦的标准贸易模型预测，当劳动力更具流动性时，贸易自由化应该发生。我找到了对这个预测的支持。使用 2015 年覆盖 56 个国家的区域贸易协定 (RTA)，我表明劳动力流动是贸易自由化的有力预测因素。当国家对的平均国内劳动力市场不那么僵硬时，RTA 的可能性就会增加。当平均劳动力流动性从平均值增加 1 个标准差时，RTA 的概率增加 14-26%。这些结果也与世界贸易组织下谈判的约束关税一致，在世界贸易组织下，较不严格的劳动力市场与较低的约束关税相关。