IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/aejpol/v15y2023i4p359-89.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effects of Import Competition on Unionization

Author

Listed:
  • John S. Ahlquist
  • Mitch Downey

Abstract

We study direct and indirect effects of Chinese import competition on union membership in the United States, 1990–2014. Import competition in manufacturing induced a modest decline in unionization within manufacturing industries. The magnitude is small because unionized manufacturers competed in higher-quality product segments. Manufacturers in right-to-work states experienced more direct competition with low-quality Chinese imports. Outside of manufacturing, however, import competition causes an important increase in union membership, as less educated women shift away from retail and toward jobs in health care and education where unions are stronger. We calculate that Chinese imports prevented 26 percent of the union density decline that would have otherwise occurred.

Suggested Citation

  • John S. Ahlquist & Mitch Downey, 2023. "The Effects of Import Competition on Unionization," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 359-389, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejpol:v:15:y:2023:i:4:p:359-89
    DOI: 10.1257/pol.20200709
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pol.20200709
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://doi.org/10.3886/E176801V1
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pol.20200709.appx
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pol.20200709.ds
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1257/pol.20200709?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects
    • L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General
    • P33 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - International Trade, Finance, Investment, Relations, and Aid

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aea:aejpol:v:15:y:2023:i:4:p:359-89. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.