IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/asiapr/v17y2022i1p114-135.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How COVID‐19 Medical Supply Shortages Led to Extraordinary Trade and Industrial Policy

Author

Listed:
  • Chad P. Bown

Abstract

Early in the COVID‐19 pandemic, a global shortage of hospital gowns, gloves, surgical masks, and respirators caused policymakers globally to panic. China increased imports and decreased exports of this personal protective equipment, removing supplies from world markets. Shortages led to European Union and US export controls as well as other extraordinary policy actions, including a US effort to reserve supplies manufactured in China by a US‐headquartered multinational. By April 2020, China's exports had mostly resumed, and over the rest of the year its export volumes surged. But China's export prices also skyrocketed and remained elevated through 2020, reflecting severe and continued shortages. This paper explores these and other government actions, such as US trade war tariffs and US industrial policy in the form of over $1 billion of subsidies to build out its domestic personal protective equipment supply chain, as well as potential lessons for future pandemic preparedness and international policy cooperation.

Suggested Citation

  • Chad P. Bown, 2022. "How COVID‐19 Medical Supply Shortages Led to Extraordinary Trade and Industrial Policy," Asian Economic Policy Review, Japan Center for Economic Research, vol. 17(1), pages 114-135, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:asiapr:v:17:y:2022:i:1:p:114-135
    DOI: 10.1111/aepr.12359
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/aepr.12359
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/aepr.12359?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fuchs, Andreas & Kaplan, Lennart & Kis-Katos, Krisztina & Schmidt, Sebastian S. & Turbanisch, Felix & Wang, Feicheng, 2020. "Mask wars: China's exports of medical goods in times of COVID-19," Kiel Working Papers 2161, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    2. Gary Gereffi, 2020. "What does the COVID-19 pandemic teach us about global value chains? The case of medical supplies," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 3(3), pages 287-301, September.
    3. Simon J. Evenett, 2020. "Chinese whispers: COVID-19, global supply chains in essential goods, and public policy," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 3(4), pages 408-429, December.
    4. Bown, Chad P., 2021. "The US–China trade war and Phase One agreement," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 805-843.
    5. Chad P. Bown, 2021. "The US–China trade war and phase one agreement," Working Paper Series WP21-2, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Raphael Lafrogne-Joussier & Julien Martin & Isabelle Mejean, 2023. "Supply Shocks in Supply Chains: Evidence from the Early Lockdown in China," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 71(1), pages 170-215, March.
    2. Takatoshi Ito & Kazumasa Iwata & Colin McKenzie & Haruko Noguchi & Shujiro Urata, 2022. "The COVID‐19 Pandemic and Asia: Editors' Overview," Asian Economic Policy Review, Japan Center for Economic Research, vol. 17(1), pages 1-17, January.
    3. Hiroshi Mukunoki, 2022. "Comment on “How COVID‐19 Medical Supply Shortages Led to Extraordinary Trade and Industrial Policy”," Asian Economic Policy Review, Japan Center for Economic Research, vol. 17(1), pages 138-139, January.
    4. Rebecca Freeman & Richard Baldwin, 2022. "Risks and Global Supply Chains: What We Know and What We Need to Know," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 14(1), pages 153-180, August.
    5. Anna Fuchs & Mateusz Szul & Agnieszka Dulska & Jakub Bodziony & Aleksandra Matonóg & Joanna Pilarska & Paulina Sieradzka & Rafał Stojko & Agnieszka Drosdzol-Cop, 2022. "The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Female Sexual Function," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-9, March.
    6. Nadia Garcia‐Santaolalla & Kyle de Klerk, 2022. "Ensuring Market Supply Transparency for Personal Protective Equipment: Preparing for Future Pandemics," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 13(3), pages 401-411, June.
    7. Taiji Furusawa & Lili Yan Ing, . "G20’s Roles in Improving the Resilience of Supply Chains," Chapters,, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA).
    8. Benoit, Florence & Connell-Garcia, William & Herghelegiu, Cristina & Pasimeni, Paolo, 2022. "Detecting and Analysing Supply Chain Disruption," Single Market Economics Papers WP2022/1, Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (European Commission), Chief Economist Team.
    9. Zhang, Jianghua & Long, Daniel Zhuoyu & Li, Yuchen, 2023. "A reliable emergency logistics network for COVID-19 considering the uncertain time-varying demands," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    10. Naudé, Wim & Tregenna, Fiona, 2023. "Africa's Industrialization Prospects: A Fresh Look," IZA Discussion Papers 16043, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kazunobu Hayakawa & Kohei Imai, 2022. "Who sends me face masks? Evidence for the impacts of COVID‐19 on international trade in medical goods," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(2), pages 365-385, February.
    2. Yuko Imura, 2023. "Reassessing Trade Barriers with Global Production Networks," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 51, pages 77-116, December.
    3. Funke, Michael & Wende, Adrian, 2022. "Modeling semiconductor export restrictions and the US-China trade conflict," BOFIT Discussion Papers 13/2022, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    4. Thorbecke, Willem & Chen, Chen & Salike, Nimesh, 2021. "China’s exports in a protectionist world," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    5. Bas, Maria & Fernandes, Ana & Paunov, Caroline, 2024. "How resilient was trade to COVID-19?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    6. Das, Sanchita Basu & Sen, Rahul, 2022. "Trade Interdependencies in COVID-19-Related Essential Medical Goods: Role of Trade Facilitation and Cooperation for the Asian Economies," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 666, Asian Development Bank.
    7. Ari Van Assche, 2021. "Shortages in essential goods: Are global value chains part of the problem or the solution?," SPP Communique, The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary, vol. 14(17), May.
    8. Blanchard, Emily J. & Bown, Chad P. & Chor, Davin, 2024. "Did Trump’s trade war impact the 2018 election?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    9. Ge, Yongbo & Zhu, Yuexiao, 2022. "Boosting green recovery: Green credit policy in heavily polluted industries and stock price crash risk," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    10. Hayakawa,Kazunobu, 2022. "The trade impact of U.S.-China conflict in Southeast Asia," IDE Discussion Papers 873, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    11. Chih‐Hai Yang & Kazunobu Hayakawa, 2023. "The Substitution Effect of US‐China Trade War on Taiwanese Trade," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 61(4), pages 324-341, December.
    12. Evenett,Simon J. & Hoekman,Bernard M. & Rocha,Nadia & Ruta,Michele, 2021. "The Covid-19 Vaccine Production Club : Will Value Chains Temper Nationalism?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9565, The World Bank.
    13. Sébastien Miroudot, 2020. "Reshaping the policy debate on the implications of COVID-19 for global supply chains," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 3(4), pages 430-442, December.
    14. Chad Brown & Paola Conconi & Aksel Erbahar & Lorenzo Trimarchi, 2020. "Trade Protection Along Supply Chains," Working Papers ECARES 2020-52, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    15. Hayakawa, Kazunobu & Ito, Keiko & Fukao, Kyoji & Ivan, Deseatnicov, 2022. "The impact of the U.S.-China conflict and the strengthening of export controls on Japanese exports," IDE Discussion Papers 852, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    16. Dorn, David & Levell, Peter, 2021. "Trade and Inequality in Europe and the US," CEPR Discussion Papers 16780, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. An Pham Ngoc Nguyen & Thomas Conlon & Martin Crane & Marija Bezbradica, 2024. "Herding Unmasked: Insights into Cryptocurrencies, Stocks and US ETFs," Papers 2407.08069, arXiv.org.
    18. Shota Miki & Yoichiro Tamanyu, 2024. "On the Restructuring of Global Semiconductor Supply Chains," Bank of Japan Working Paper Series 24-E-6, Bank of Japan.
    19. Rebecca Freeman & Richard Baldwin, 2022. "Risks and Global Supply Chains: What We Know and What We Need to Know," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 14(1), pages 153-180, August.
    20. Carlo Pietrobelli & Roberta Rabellotti & Ari Van Assche, 2021. "Making sense of global value chain-oriented policies: The trifecta of tasks, linkages, and firms," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(3), pages 327-346, September.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:asiapr:v:17:y:2022:i:1:p:114-135. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/jcerrjp.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.