Some benefit, some are left behind: NAFTA and educational attainment in the United States

This paper examines the persistent effects of eliminating tariffs on Mexican imports, following implementation North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Americans' human capital investment. We leverage quasi-experimental changes in imports across birth cohorts and within states. show that NAFTA increases probability ever attending college earning a degree. These results, however, mask important heterogeneous sample. find white Americans drive these positive effects. In contrast, educational attainment racial ethnic minorities, especially men, shrank under NAFTA, decreasing their graduating from high school.