Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP14354
Authors: Jerome Adda; Yarine Fawaz
Abstract: This paper assesses the effect of import competition on the labor market and health outcomes of US workers. We first show that import shocks affect employment and income, but only in areas where jobs are more intense in routine tasks. Exploiting over 40 million individual observations on health and mortality, we find that import had a detrimental effect on physical and mental health that is concentrated in those areas and exhibits strong persistence. It decreased health care utilisation and increased hospitalisation for a large set of conditions, more difficult to treat. The mortality hazard of workers in manufacturing increased by up to 6 percent per billion dollar import increase.
Keywords: import competition; routine tasks; health; health behaviour; hospitalisation; mortality
JEL Codes: No JEL codes provided
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| import competition (L13) | adverse health outcomes (I14) |
| import shocks (C87) | physical and mental health deterioration (I12) |
| import competition (L13) | decrease in healthcare utilization (I11) |
| import competition (L13) | increase in hospitalizations (I19) |
| import competition (L13) | long-term health impacts (I12) |
| import competition (L13) | health deterioration greater than income loss (I14) |
| import shocks (C87) | more severe health conditions (I12) |