Importing Political Polarization? The Electoral Consequences of Rising Trade Exposure
@article{Autor2020ImportingPP, title={Importing Political Polarization? The Electoral Consequences of Rising Trade Exposure}, author={David Autor and David Dorn and Gordon H. Hanson and Kaveh Majlesi}, journal={ERN: Financial Crises (Monetary) (Topic)}, year={2020} }
Has rising import competition contributed to the polarization of US politics? Analyzing multiple measures of political expression and results of congressional and presidential elections spanning the period 2000 through 2016, we find strong though not definitive evidence of an ideological realignment in trade-exposed local labor markets that commences prior to the divisive 2016 US presidential election. Exploiting the exogenous component of rising import competition by China, we find that trade…
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