Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • 2022
  • Working Paper
  • HBS Working Paper Series

The Impact of the Chinese Exclusion Act on the U.S. Economy

By: Joe Long, Carlo Medici, Nancy Qian and Marco Tabellini
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:53
ShareBar

Abstract

This paper studies the impact of the Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned Chinese immigration to the United States after 1882, across U.S. counties between 1870 and 1940. We find that the Act reduced labor supply for both the Chinese and other groups (i.e., white and non-white natives and immigrants). The drop in Chinese and non-Chinese labor supply was driven by both skilled and unskilled workers, and occurred across all major economic sectors. The Act lowered income for all workers, and caused a sharp contraction in manufacturing, mining and agriculture. The results imply that Chinese and other workers were complements in economic production and the exclusion of the Chinese had a negative impact on economic development of the Western United States. Many negative effects lasted until at least 1940.

Keywords

Immigration; Growth; Productivity; Business History; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Business and Government Relations; Prejudice and Bias; Government Legislation; United States

Citation

Long, Joe, Carlo Medici, Nancy Qian, and Marco Tabellini. "The Impact of the Chinese Exclusion Act on the U.S. Economy." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 23-008, March 2022.
  • Read Now

About The Author

Marco E. Tabellini

Business, Government and the International Economy
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • January 2023
    • Review of Economic Studies

    Racial Diversity and Racial Policy Preferences: The Great Migration and Civil Rights

    By: Alvaro Calderon, Vasiliki Fouka and Marco Tabellini
    • November 2022
    • Nature Human Behaviour

    Hate Crime Towards Minoritized Groups Increases as They Increase in Sized-Based Rank

    By: Mina Cikara, Vasiliki Fouka and Marco Tabellini
    • August, 2022
    • American Political Science Review

    Changing Ingroup Boundaries: The Effect of Immigration on Race Relations in the U.S.

    By: Vasiliki Fouka and Marco Tabellini
More from the Authors
  • Racial Diversity and Racial Policy Preferences: The Great Migration and Civil Rights By: Alvaro Calderon, Vasiliki Fouka and Marco Tabellini
  • Hate Crime Towards Minoritized Groups Increases as They Increase in Sized-Based Rank By: Mina Cikara, Vasiliki Fouka and Marco Tabellini
  • Changing Ingroup Boundaries: The Effect of Immigration on Race Relations in the U.S. By: Vasiliki Fouka and Marco Tabellini
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College