Affiliation:
1. Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI) Stockholm University Stockholm Sweden
2. Department of Geography and Environment London School of Economics London UK
Abstract
AbstractWhat happens to local communities when manufacturing disappears? I examine changes in associational density over nearly two decades as a proxy for social capital in US labor markets. Exploiting plausibly exogenous trade‐induced shocks to local manufacturing activity, I test whether deindustrialization is associated with greater or lower organizational membership. I uncover a robust negative relationship between the two variables, particularly acute in rural and mostly‐White areas. My findings, however, are sensitive to measurement: There are no clearly discernible effects of deindustrialization on social capital when I consider alternative proxies for the outcome. To reconcile these results, I present evidence suggesting that economic adversity may induce a qualitative, rather than quantitative, change in social capital.
Subject
Environmental Science (miscellaneous),Development