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 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.'
affiliation: 'Autor, DH (Corresponding Author), MIT, Dept Econ, 50 Mem Dr,E52-371,
  Cambridge, MA 02142 USA.

  Autor, David H., MIT, Dept Econ, Cambridge, MA 02142 USA.

  Autor, David H.; Hanson, Gordon H., NBER, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA.

  Dorn, David, CEMFI, Madrid 28014, Spain.

  Hanson, Gordon H., Univ Calif San Diego, Sch Int Relat \& Pacific Studies, La Jolla,
  CA 92093 USA.'
author: Autor, David H. and Dorn, David and Hanson, Gordon H.
author-email: 'dautor@mit.edu

  dorn@cemfi.es

  gohanson@ucsd.edu'
author_list:
- family: Autor
  given: David H.
- family: Dorn
  given: David
- family: Hanson
  given: Gordon H.
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1257/aer.103.6.2121
eissn: 1944-7981
esi-highly-cited-paper: Y
esi-hot-paper: N
files: []
issn: 0002-8282
journal: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
keywords-plus: 'WAGE INEQUALITY; INTERNATIONAL-TRADE; GROWTH; DEMAND; IMPACT;

  GLOBALIZATION; TECHNOLOGY; DECLINE'
language: English
month: OCT
number: '6'
number-of-cited-references: '79'
orcid-numbers: Dorn, David/0000-0002-1827-4734
pages: 2121-2168
papis_id: ad11211dccf120f562e8f84da9111ee6
ref: Autor2013chinasyndrome
times-cited: '1339'
title: 'The China Syndrome: Local Labor Market Effects of Import Competition in the
  United States'
type: Article
unique-id: WOS:000328054000003
usage-count-last-180-days: '55'
usage-count-since-2013: '460'
volume: '103'
web-of-science-categories: Economics
year: '2013'