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April 11, 2012

Seminar

The China Syndrome: Local Labor Market Effects of Import Competition in the United States
Berliner Netzwerk Arbeitsmarkt (BeNA) Lecture Series 2012

Date

April 11, 2012
6:30 - 8:00 p.m.

Location

Gustav-Schmoller-Raum
DIW Berlin im Quartier 110
Room 3.3.002A
Mohrenstraße 58
10117 Berlin

Speakers

David Dorn (CEMFI Madrid)

Abstract: We analyze the effect of rising Chinese import competition between 1990 and 2007 on local U.S. labor markets, exploiting cross-market variation in import exposure stemming from initial differences in industry specialization while instrumenting for imports using changes in Chinese imports by industry to other high-income countries. Rising exposure increases unemployment, lowers labor force participation, and reduces wages in local labor markets. Conservatively, it explains one-quarter of the contemporaneous aggregate decline in U.S. manufacturing employment. Transfer benefits payments for unemployment, disability, retirement, and healthcare also rise sharply in exposed labor markets. The deadweight loss of financing these transfers is one to two-thirds as large as U.S. gains from trade with China.

The Berlin Network of Labour Market Researchers (BeNA) was founded in 2004 as a forum for the discussion and development of research projects by young labour market researchers working at universities and research institutions in Berlin. At the heart of the network lies the weekly Seminar on Labor Research and the Lecture Series. Previous BeNA lectures were held by Manuel Arellano, Steve Pischke, Steve Machin, Michael Lechner, Andrea Ichino, Robert Hart and Gerald van den Berg.

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