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China Syndrome Or Not? Labour Market Effects Of A Greater Trade Openness In Us Manufacturing

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  • Fabrizio Antenucci

Abstract

According to the recent economic literature, international trade has had a significant influence on the US labour market, due to the import penetration of Chinese products. In particular, according to David Author and his co-authors, Chinese import would have caused a “China syndrome”, i.e. strong employment contraction as well as negative impact on the cumulated earnings of workers in the areas most exposed to this competition. Although it can be maintained that, in recent decades, international trade has had a negative impact on the US labour market, in this paper it is claimed that, from a theoretical point of view, import penetration does not represent an appropriate index to detect the influence of international trade on the labour market. The aim of this paper is to offer an alternative analysis tool, the Trade Openness Index, which could exceed the limits of the Factor Content of Trade and the Stolper-Samuelson theorem.

Suggested Citation

  • Fabrizio Antenucci, 2018. "China Syndrome Or Not? Labour Market Effects Of A Greater Trade Openness In Us Manufacturing," Departmental Working Papers of Economics - University 'Roma Tre' 0242, Department of Economics - University Roma Tre.
    • Handle: RePEc:rtr:wpaper:0242
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Ilhan Dogus, 2019. "Rising wage differential between white-collar and blue-collar workers and market concentration: The case of the USA, 1964-2007," PSL Quarterly Review, Economia civile, vol. 72(290), pages 223-251.
    2. Fabrizio Antenucci & Matteo Deleidi & Walter Paternesi Meloni, 2019. "Demand and Supply-side Drivers of Labour Productivity Growth: an empirical assessment for G7 countries," Working Papers 0042, ASTRIL - Associazione Studi e Ricerche Interdisciplinari sul Lavoro.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • F10 - International Economics - - Trade - - - General
    • F60 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - General

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