Book Description
This thesis provides an investigation of the effects of trade, technology and natural resource shocks on local economies and local labor markets. In the first chapter, I explore theoretically the impact of recent improvements in communication technology on the configuration of economic geography at multiple levels of spatial disaggregation. I show that a simple model of the organization of global supply chains can rationalize several salient stylized facts concerning the recent evolution of the spatial economy. In the second chapter, I empirically investigate the impact of changes in US trade policy triggered by China's WTO accession on Chinese local economies. I find that improvements in US market access had an important impact on local economic outcomes and on the spatial configuration of economic activity within China. In the third chapter I investigate the impact of large oilfield discoveries on local labor markets, with a particular focus on the effects on the economic prospects of women. I find that while large mineral endowments do not slow the process of women joining the labor force, they do lead to a higher gender wage gap.