Full Citation

Title: Divided we fall? The effect of manufacturing decline on the social capital of US communities

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2023

ISBN:

ISSN: 1467-9787

DOI: 10.1111/JORS.12664

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: What happens to local communities when manufacturing disappears? I examine changes in associational density over nearly two decades as a proxy for social capital in US labor markets. Exploiting plausibly exogenous trade-induced shocks to local manufacturing activity, I test whether deindustrialization is associated with greater or lower organizational membership. I uncover a robust negative relationship between the two variables, particularly acute in rural and mostly-White areas. My findings, however, are sensitive to measurement: There are no clearly discernible effects of deindustrialization on social capital when I consider alternative proxies for the outcome. To reconcile these results, I present evidence suggesting that economic adversity may induce a qualitative, rather than quantitative, change in social capital.

Url: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jors.12664

Url: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jors.12664

Url: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jors.12664

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Diemer, Andreas

Periodical (Full): Journal of Regional Science

Issue:

Volume: 63

Pages: 1-28

Data Collections: IPUMS USA, IPUMS NHGIS

Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Population Mobility and Spatial Demography

Countries: