Comment

Abstract

This fine paper by Charles, Hurst, and Schwartz investigates the link between the post-2000 decline in manufacturing employment and the decline of the employment rate, and also analyzes the supporting roles played by transfer payments, geographic mobility, and opioid use. The paper is a particularly useful synthesis because it brings together threads from a number of other papers, including the authors’ own work, and it explores some competing explanations in a standardized empirical framework. The paper is a wonderful read because it tells a clear story based on an impressive marshalling of evidence. The paper contains numerous findings that shed light on a variety of changes that occurred around the same time. The span of the analysis from aggregate to commuting zone level is particularly enlightening. Here are highlights of a just a few of the many interesting results: