Import Competition and Hate Groups in the United States, 2000-2017

• In Event: Globalization and Social Unrest

Abstract

A growing literature documents the political and economic impacts of exposure to the competitive pressures of globalization among import-competing groups in developed countries. Recent events (e.g., Brexit in the United Kingdom, the victory of Donald Trump in the 2016 US election) have drawn attention to the ways in which globalization may foster resentment and political hostility toward out-groups. This study evaluates whether this resentment spills over to one extreme form of anti-social political behavior: the formation and spread of ideologically extreme "hate" groups. The famous 1982 murder of a Chinese-American man named Vincent Chin in Detroit -- where the perpetrators acted based on the belief that Asian automobile manufacturers were driving American companies out of business -- is one case that suggests a potential link between perceived vulnerability to import competition and political hate. A number of supply- and demand-side factors suggest plausible links between import competition and the presence of hate groups. On the supply side, individuals or groups seeking to form hate groups may target locations that have been disproportionately affected by import competition since potential recruits may be more receptive to appeals to hatred when the effects of foreign competition are directly observable. On the demand side, as the example of Vincent Chin demonstrates, the likelihood that individuals who are predisposed toward out-group prejudices decide to participate in acts of hate may depend on the extent to which they experience or observe negative impacts of import competition in their communities. I bring together a variety of data sources to evaluate potential links between local-level vulnerability to import competition and local-level hate group activity in the United States throughout the period of 2000 to 2017. To measure trends in hate group activity, I assign geographic coordinates to city-level data on hate groups from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). To measure vulnerability to import competition, I use county-level data on employment in manufacturing sectors in the United States during the pre-2000 period to compare the distribution of employment across manufacturing sectors in particular counties with the distribution of Chinese imports in those sectors at the national-level in the United States. I use this data to test the hypothesis that greater exposure to competition with Chinese imports is positively associated with the presence of hate groups at the local level.

Author

• Matthew DiLorenzo, Old Dominion University