Working Papers:
“Foreign Trade Policy as Education Policy? The Impact of Import Competition on K-12 Public Education Expenditures” (Job Market Paper)[manuscript]
Abstract: By exploiting variation in import competition exposure across local labor markets in the U.S., I find that rising import competition from China decreases per-pupil expenditure and revenue in public primary and secondary schools. The decrease in per-pupil revenue is mainly driven by decreases in revenue from state governments. I find no evidence that revenues from federal and local governments help smooth import-induced shocks. The decreases in per-pupil revenues result in decreases in expenditures on instruction which has been found to be an important determinant of student achievement. Lastly, I find no significant change in school enrollment associated with the import shocks, suggesting that the decreases in per-pupil expenditure are not a result of parents’ migration decisions.
“How Do Low Skilled Immigrants Adjust to Chinese Import Shocks? Evidence using English Language Proficiency” (with Delia Furtado)[manuscript]
Abstract: This paper examines the link between trade-induced changes in labor market opportunities and English language fluency among low-skilled immigrants in the United States. Many of the production-based manufacturing jobs lost in recent years due to Chinese import competition did not require strong English-speaking skills while many of the jobs in expanding industries did. Consistent with responses to these changing labor market opportunities, we find that a $1,000 increase in import exposure per worker leads to an increase in the share of low skilled immigrants speaking English very well by about half a percentage point. While we cannot completely rule out the possibility that some of this is a result of selective migration, we present evidence suggesting that newcomers to trade hit areas actually have worse English-speaking abilities. Lastly, we show that low skilled immigrants from non-English speaking countries in areas with more exposure to Chinese import competition became especially more likely to be enrolled in school compared to similarly low skilled natives.
Abstract: Many people interpret the increases in native-immigrant wage gaps as evidence that the “quality” of immigrants to the U.S. has decreased in recent years. An alternative explanation, however, is that the returns to immigrant characteristics have decreased as a result of changes in the U.S. economy. This paper examines the impact of Chinese import shocks on native-immigrant wage gaps both in general and within different skill levels. I start by showing that in areas hardest hit by Chinese imports, native-immigrant wage gaps widened, a result consistent with the fact that immigrants tend to have less schooling than natives and previous findings that low-skilled workers suffered more job loss as a result of Chinese imports than high skilled workers. I also show that even comparing immigrants with the same education or the same occupation, Chinese import competition is associated with larger immigrant-native wage gaps suggesting that natives have a comparative advantage in the occupations left in areas suffering from trade-induced manufacturing job loss. Surprisingly, I find that, compared with low-education immigrants who have been in the US for more than 10 years, the import effect on native-immigrant wage gaps is smaller for new immigrants with the same education level. I also find that the import effect on the wage gap is greater in areas with high human capital.