COVID-19 and international trade: insights and policy challenges in China and USA

Abstract

Like the other spheres of economic activity, international trade is also a victim of the current Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, taking this into consideration, this study examines the impact of the novel Covid-19 virus on international trade, by using monthly data from China and USA. For this purpose, we have referred to the novel Fourier causality test. The findings of the test show that there is a direct causal relationship between the Covid-19 related deaths and the exports and imports of China, while the Covid-19 cases do not have a causal relationship with the exports and imports of China in the pandemic. Moreover, the Covid-19 cases and deaths have a causal relationship with the exports and imports of USA. Thus, we found that there were heterogeneous effects experienced in both the countries. Based on these empirical findings, some policy implications have been suggested for the Chinese and USA economies.

Changes in Mental Health and Preventive Behaviors before and after COVID-19 Vaccination: A Propensity Score Matching (PSM) Study

“…One possible explanation is that the participants received good health education during the COVID-19 vaccination. In addition, the preventive behaviors in the early phase of the pandemic had been transformed into personal habits and awareness, and the continually mandatory mask wearing and social distancing in public places also facilitated strengthening of the daily preventive behaviors among the general population [40]. However, a stochastic dynamic model study previously suggested that a relaxation of NPIs would raise the reproduction number (Rt) value of SARS-CoV-2 back to 1.5, leading to sustained epidemic growth [4].…”

“…Of note, the mental health score of the pre-vaccination group (27 (23, 30)) was higher than that of the post-vaccination group (26 (22, 29), p = 0.010; Table 4), implying possibly improved psychological conditions after COVID-19 vaccination. Moreover, the scores of the preventive behavior scale in the post-vaccination group were slightly higher than those in the pre-vaccination group (36 (35, 41) vs. 36 (34,40), p < 0.001; Table 4), suggesting a higher probability to take preventive measures after COVID-19 vaccination.…”

The impact of COVID-19 outbreak on the Mauritian export trade: a disaggregated analysis

“…The old dispute on the comparative advantage versus resilience has now resumed due to the current pandemic (Zhang et al , 2021). In fact, as per the theory of comparative advantage postulates, trade is beneficial if countries specialize in those goods in which they have a comparative advantage.…”

“…In addition, the standard trade theories, which assume that transport costs are given, are no longer applicable. COVID-19 has disrupted the classic assumptions of the conventional trade theories (Zhang et al , 2021). From a theoretical perspective, the impact of COVID-19 must be assessed by its effects on the exporting country, on the importing nation and on neighbouring countries (Hayakawa and Mukunoki, 2021).…”

COVID-19 and domestic trade in Bulgaria

“…While suffering from the pandemic and the restrictions, some supply chains remained robust (Ando et al, 2021;Chenarides et al, 2021). E-commerce and m-commerce grew (Dumanska et al, 2021), enterprises proved to be flexible in the crisis (Deconinck et al, 2020), and exports rose (Rose et al, 2021;Jomthanachai et al, 2022), all suggesting the heterogeneity in the pandemic impact on trade (Zhang et al, 2022;Ngatno & Prihatiningsih, 2021). Nevertheless, restrictive measures curtailed the competition and contributed to a temporary rise in the market power of retailers (Ihle et al, 2020).…”