ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book elucidates how the demand for skilled and low-skilled workers changed in Chile after the economy opened to free trade in 1974. It considers the changing strategies of multinational firms, increased competition, and a changed labor relations environment, on the employment and pay of skilled and low-skilled workers. The book provides insight into the causes of widening wage dispersion in Chile under free trade. It provides great insight into the applicability of the traditional view of trade and wages (HOS), and alternative explanations such as skill-biased technological change (SBTC) and labor market rigidity. The book shows that firms had more than ample opportunity to adjust their labor force to fluctuations in the market, and that labor market flexibility was a tool used by Chilean firms to increase their rents.
