Divided we fall? The effect of manufacturing decline on the social capital of US communities
研究了近二十年间美国制造业衰退对社区社会资本的影响，发现去工业化与组织成员数量呈负相关，尤其在农村和白人为主的地区更明显，但该结果依赖于社会资本的测量方式。
Abstract What 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.