The China Syndrome: Local Labor Market Effects of Import Competition in the United States
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 hi...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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American Economic Association
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/95952 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6915-9381 |
| _version_ | 1811080422477529088 |
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| author | Autor, David H. Dorn, David Hanson, Gordon H. |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics Autor, David H. Dorn, David Hanson, Gordon H. |
| author_sort | Autor, David H. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | 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 import-competing 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:31:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/95952 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:31:25Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | American Economic Association |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/959522022-10-01T04:10:03Z The China Syndrome: Local Labor Market Effects of Import Competition in the United States Autor, David H. Dorn, David Hanson, Gordon H. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics Autor, David H. 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 import-competing 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. National Science Foundation (U.S.) (SES-0239538) 2015-03-11T17:45:15Z 2015-03-11T17:45:15Z 2013-10 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0002-8282 1944-7981 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/95952 Autor, David H, David Dorn, and Gordon H Hanson. “The China Syndrome: Local Labor Market Effects of Import Competition in the United States.” American Economic Review 103, no. 6 (October 2013): 2121–2168. © 2013 American Economic Association https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6915-9381 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.103.6.2121 American Economic Review Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Economic Association American Economic Association |
| spellingShingle | Autor, David H. Dorn, David Hanson, Gordon H. The China Syndrome: Local Labor Market Effects of Import Competition in the United States |
| title | The China Syndrome: Local Labor Market Effects of Import Competition in the United States |
| title_full | The China Syndrome: Local Labor Market Effects of Import Competition in the United States |
| title_fullStr | The China Syndrome: Local Labor Market Effects of Import Competition in the United States |
| title_full_unstemmed | The China Syndrome: Local Labor Market Effects of Import Competition in the United States |
| title_short | The China Syndrome: Local Labor Market Effects of Import Competition in the United States |
| title_sort | china syndrome local labor market effects of import competition in the united states |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/95952 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6915-9381 |
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