Full Citation

Title: The China Syndrome: Local Labor Market Effects of Import Competition in the United States

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2013

ISBN:

ISSN:

DOI: 10.1257/aer.103.6.2121

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Abstract: We analyze the effect of rising Chinese import competition between 1990 and 2007 on US local labor markets, exploiting cross-market variation in import exposure stemming from initial differences in industry specialization and instrumenting for US imports using changes in Chinese imports by other high-income countries. Rising imports cause higher unemployment, lower labor force participation, and reduced wages in local labor markets that house importcompeting manufacturing industries. In our main specification, import competition explains one-quarter of the contemporaneous aggregate decline in US manufacturing employment. Transfer benefits payments for unemployment, disability, retirement, and healthcare also rise sharply in more trade-exposed labor markets.

Url: https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/aer.103.6.2121

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Authors: Autor, David, H; Dorn, David; Hanson, Gordon, H

Periodical (Full): American Economic Review

Issue: 6

Volume: 103

Pages: 2121–2168

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure

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