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'