Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Series: Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers
Creation-Date: 2022-09-29
Number: 22-071/VIII
Author-Name: Michiel Gerritse
Author-Workplace-Name: Erasmus University Rotterdam
Author-Name: Andrea Caragliu
Author-Workplace-Name: Politecnico di Milano
Title: Import competition and domestic transport costs
Abstract: With China’s 2001 WTO accession, trade costs between the US and China fell sharply, but the 
transport costs of Chinese imports within the US remained sizable. We argue that domestic 
transport costs shield local labor markets from globalization. Using a shift-share design for 
industry-level Chinese imports across 42 ports of entry, we show that US job losses from 
competing imports occurred near the ports where they arrived. Once accounting for domestic 
transport costs, import competition affects coastal areas more than inland areas; shows larger 
impacts in housing markets and indirectly affected jobs; and explains voting, mortality and family 
formation
Classification-JEL: E24, F14, F16, R23, J23, J31, L60, O47, R12
Keywords: import competition, local labor markets, trade infrastructure, China syndrome, 
transport costs

File-URL: https://papers.tinbergen.nl/22071.pdf
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Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:202200071