Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • 2022
  • Working Paper
  • HBS Working Paper Series

Local Shocks and Internal Migration: The Disparate Effects of Robots and Chinese Imports in the U.S.

By: Marius Faber, Andres Sarto and Marco Tabellini
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:89
ShareBar

Abstract

Migration is a key mechanism through which local labor markets adjust to economic shocks. In this paper, we analyze the migration response of American workers to two of the most important shocks that hit US manufacturing since the 1990s: Chinese import competition and the introduction of industrial robots. Exploiting plausibly exogenous variation in exposure across US local labor markets over time, we establish a new fact. Even though both shocks drastically reduced employment in the manufacturing sector, only robots led to a sizable decline in population size. We provide evidence that negative employment spillovers outside manufacturing, caused by robots but not by Chinese imports, can explain the different migration responses. We interpret our findings through the lens of a model that highlights two mechanisms: the cost savings that each shock provides and the degree of complementarity between directly and indirectly exposed industries.

Keywords

Migration; Employment; Information Technology; Trade; System Shocks; United States

Citation

Faber, Marius, Andres Sarto, and Marco Tabellini. "Local Shocks and Internal Migration: The Disparate Effects of Robots and Chinese Imports in the U.S." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-071, December 2019. (Revised May 2022. Also appears in HBS Working Knowledge.)
  • SSRN
  • Read Now

About The Author

Marco E. Tabellini

Business, Government and the International Economy
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • 2022
    • Faculty Research

    The Impact of the Chinese Exclusion Act on the U.S. Economy

    By: Marco Tabellini, Nancy Qian, Carlo Medici and Joe Long
    • March 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Mexico, Trade, and Development

    By: Marco E. Tabellini
    • Science Advances

    Policies to Influence Perceptions about COVID-19 Risk: The Case of Maps

    By: Claudia Engel, Jonathan Rodden and Marco Tabellini
More from the Authors
  • The Impact of the Chinese Exclusion Act on the U.S. Economy By: Marco Tabellini, Nancy Qian, Carlo Medici and Joe Long
  • Mexico, Trade, and Development By: Marco E. Tabellini
  • Policies to Influence Perceptions about COVID-19 Risk: The Case of Maps By: Claudia Engel, Jonathan Rodden and Marco Tabellini
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College