David Autor

David Autor is the MIT economist interviewed by Greg Rosalsky in Why economists got free trade with China so wrong. The supplied markdown renders the name as “David Otter” in some summary lines, but the episode listing and the research context identify the economist as Autor.

His contribution to this source is the labor-market correction to simple free-trade optimism. Autor explains that the China Shock made Free Trade Distributional Cost visible because import competition hit specific local labor markets, not an abstract national worker, and because affected workers often did not move or retrain as quickly as theory implied.

Connections

• China Shock - research area discussed in the episode.
• David Dorn and [[GordonHansen|Gordon Hanson]] - coauthors in the source’s account.
• Regional Labor Market Scarring and People Versus Places Recovery - worker-impact concepts tied to Autor’s analysis.
• Trade Adjustment Assistance, Blanket Tariff Limit, and Strategic Industrial Policy - policy frames discussed through his interview.