RIETI Report October 29 2021

The impact of COVID-19 on global production

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This bi-weekly newsletter will keep you updated with the recent columns, event information and research results by RIETI fellows and other leading economists in Japan and around the world.

In this edition, we address issues related to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on multinational production and supply chains.
We hope you will enjoy it. If you have any feedback, we would love to hear from you.
Editors of RIETI Report (Facebook: @en.RIETI / Twitter: @RIETIenglish / URL: https://www.rieti.go.jp/en/)

This month's featured article

The impact of COVID-19 on global production

ZHANG HongyongSenior Fellow, RIETI

The COVID-19 pandemic has had substantial impacts on the world economy. In 2020, world real GDP fell by 3.6%, the volume of world merchandise trade declined by 5.3%, and foreign direct investment (FDI) flows dropped by 42% (Note 1). Supply chains have been disrupted and both supply and demand shocks transmitted through supply chains and propagated across borders. As Baldwin and Tomiura (2020) point out, COVID-19 is as contagious economically as it is medically. To slow down the spread of the coronavirus, many countries imposed some form of restrictions on people and businesses. Previous studies have shown that the COIVD-19 had large negative impacts on global supply chains (Baldwin and Freeman 2020, Bonadio et al. 2020), international trade (Hayakawa and Mukunoki 2021), and the subjective uncertainty of global firms (Chen et al. 2021).

Since Japanese multinational corporations (MNCs) are important drivers and players in FDI and global value chains (GVCs), their overseas production and supply chains were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. In a recent paper (Zhang 2021), I assess the impact of COVID-19 on global production by analysing quarterly data on the foreign manufacturing affiliates of Japanese MNCs.

To read the full text
https://www.rieti.go.jp/en/columns/v01_0165.html

Related articles on RIETI's website

"The Semiconductor Industry in the Age of Trade Wars, Covid-19, and Strategic Rivalries"
by Willem THORBECKE (Senior Fellow, RIETI)
https://www.rieti.go.jp/en/publications/nts/21e064.html

"Supply chains and the economic effects of lockdowns"
by INOUE Hiroyasu (University of Hyogo) / MURASE Yohsuke (RIKEN Advanced Institute of Computational Science) / TODO Yasuyuki (Faculty Fellow, RIETI)
https://www.rieti.go.jp/en/columns/v01_0156.html

"Globalisation and the COVID-19 pandemic: A spatial economics perspective"
by FUJITA Masahisa (Former President, RIETI) / HAMAGUCHI Nobuaki (Faculty Fellow, RIETI)by https://www.rieti.go.jp/en/columns/v01_0148.html

"Effect of COVID-19 on Global Value Chains and Future Prospects" (BBL Summary)
by Sébastien MIROUDOT (Senior Trade Policy Analyst, OECD)
https://www.rieti.go.jp/en/events/bbl/20080601.html

Our latest discussion papers

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https://www.rieti.go.jp/en/publications/summary/21100010.html

"Is Entering a Selective School the Ultimate Goal or Just a Start? The Effect of Ordinal Rank on Academic Achievement and College Quality in a Selective Secondary School"
by ISOZUMI Koji (Keio University) / ITO Hirotake (Keio Research Institute at SFC) / NAKAMURO Makiko (Keio University) / YAMAGUCHI Shintaro (University of Tokyo)
https://www.rieti.go.jp/en/publications/summary/21100009.html

"The Spillover Effects of Compact City Policy on Incumbent Retailers: Evidence from Toyama City"
by IWATA Shinichiro (Kanagawa University) / KONDO Keisuke (Senior Fellow, RIETI)
https://www.rieti.go.jp/en/publications/summary/21100008.html

[List of discussion papers]
https://www.rieti.go.jp/en/publications/act_dp.html

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