Equality through exposure to imports? International trade and the racial wage gap

A key implication of Becker’s (1957) work on discrimination is that greater product market competition can reduce employment discrimination generally, and discriminatory wage gaps in particular. Using US data on manufacturing wages and import exposure, we explore whether increased competition, in the form of a heightened exposure to imports, reduces the racial wage gap. Our findings support Becker’s contention. We find that import exposure …