Replication data for: 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 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.

本文分析了1990年至2007年间中国进口竞争加剧对美国本地劳动力市场的影响。研究利用各市场因初始产业专业化差异而产生的进口暴露度差异，并通过其他高收入国家对中国进口的变化来工具化美国进口数据。进口增加导致进口竞争型制造业所在的本地劳动力市场失业率上升、劳动力参与率下降及工资水平降低。在主要模型设定中，进口竞争可解释同期美国制造业就业总量下降的四分之一。此外，贸易暴露度较高的劳动力市场中，失业、残疾、退休及医疗相关的转移支付福利也大幅增加。