Import shocks, local services, and far-right voting: the case for France

Populist parties, especially right-wing ones, have risen in the past years. While the relationship between trade exposure and populist vote has been studied extensively in the literature, one of the only channels investigated is the labour market. This master thesis focus on local services and how it can make the connection between trade exposure and vote for populism. We examine the impact of import shocks from China on the share of National Front vote, the unique far-right populist party in France. This analysis take place at the employment zone level (zone d’emploi) over the period 2002-2017. It also includes the variation of services in the area.