Local Economic and Political Effects of Trade Deals: Evidence from NAFTA

Jiwon Choi, Ilyana Kuziemko, Ebonya L. Washington and Gavin Wright

No 29525, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Why have white, less educated voters left the Democratic Party over the past few decades? Scholars have proposed ethnocentrism, social issues and deindustrialization as potential answers. We highlight the role played by the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In event-study analysis, we demonstrate that counties whose 1990 employment depended on industries vulnerable to NAFTA suffered large and persistent employment losses relative to other counties. These losses begin in the mid-1990s and are only modestly offset by transfer programs. While exposed counties historically voted Democratic, in the mid-1990s they turn away from the party of the president (Bill Clinton) who ushered in the agreement and by 2000 vote majority Republican in House elections. Employing a variety of micro-data sources, including 1992-1994 respondent-level panel data, we show that protectionist views predict movement toward the GOP in the years that NAFTA is debated and implemented. This shift among protectionist respondents is larger for whites (especially men and those without a college degree) and those with conservative social views, suggesting an interactive effect whereby racial identity and social-issue positions mediate reactions to economic policies.

JEL-codes: D72 F16 H5 J2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-int, nep-lma, nep-pol and nep-ure
Note: ITI LS PE POL
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Published as Jiwon Choi & Ilyana Kuziemko & Ebonya Washington & Gavin Wright, 2024. "Local Economic and Political Effects of Trade Deals: Evidence from NAFTA," American Economic Review, vol 114(6), pages 1540-1575.

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w29525.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Local Economic and Political Effects of Trade Deals: Evidence from NAFTA (2024)
Working Paper: Local Economic and Political Effects of Trade Deals: Evidence from NAFTA (2021)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29525

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.nber.org/papers/w29525

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().