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Political consequences of free trade: Chinese imports and the shift of political views in the EU

Källén, Malin LU (2017) NEKP01 20171
Department of Economics
Abstract
This study analyses the effect of an exogenous increase in Chinese imports on political views in 9 EU countries over the period 2000-2009 by exploiting initial regional variation in industry specialization of labour markets. The labour market data is combined with data on industry specific Chinese imports to create a measurement of region-specific exposure to import penetration. To avoid endogeneity, I instrument Chinese imports to the EU countries by Chinese imports to six extra-EU countries. By using information on respondents’ occupations, I decompose the effect by those directly, mainly manufacturing industries, and those indirectly affected by increased import penetration. Those directly affected become generally less trusting of... (More)
This study analyses the effect of an exogenous increase in Chinese imports on political views in 9 EU countries over the period 2000-2009 by exploiting initial regional variation in industry specialization of labour markets. The labour market data is combined with data on industry specific Chinese imports to create a measurement of region-specific exposure to import penetration. To avoid endogeneity, I instrument Chinese imports to the EU countries by Chinese imports to six extra-EU countries. By using information on respondents’ occupations, I decompose the effect by those directly, mainly manufacturing industries, and those indirectly affected by increased import penetration. Those directly affected become generally less trusting of established institutions as well as more likely to place their political views to the left on the political scale. The results also show the discontent arising from import penetration to be very general, suggesting that the change in political views is more populist in nature than aimed specifically anti-globalization. (Less)
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author
Källén, Malin LU
supervisor
organization
course
NEKP01 20171
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Globalization, Free-trade, China, EU, Populism
language
English
id
8912800
date added to LUP
2017-07-10 14:34:51
date last changed
2017-07-10 14:34:51
@misc{8912800,
  abstract     = {{This study analyses the effect of an exogenous increase in Chinese imports on political views in 9 EU countries over the period 2000-2009 by exploiting initial regional variation in industry specialization of labour markets. The labour market data is combined with data on industry specific Chinese imports to create a measurement of region-specific exposure to import penetration. To avoid endogeneity, I instrument Chinese imports to the EU countries by Chinese imports to six extra-EU countries. By using information on respondents’ occupations, I decompose the effect by those directly, mainly manufacturing industries, and those indirectly affected by increased import penetration. Those directly affected become generally less trusting of established institutions as well as more likely to place their political views to the left on the political scale. The results also show the discontent arising from import penetration to be very general, suggesting that the change in political views is more populist in nature than aimed specifically anti-globalization.}},
  author       = {{Källén, Malin}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Political consequences of free trade: Chinese imports and the shift of political views in the EU}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}