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The 2020 trade collapse: Exporters amid the pandemic

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  • Benguria, Felipe

Abstract

International trade collapsed sharply during the 2020 global recession. This paper provides the first evidence of the response of exporting firms to the 2020 trade collapse. Based on customs and balance sheet data on Colombian firms, I establish that despite a large and sudden drop in the number of exporters, most of the decline in exports is accounted for by an intensive margin adjustment. Multinational affiliates experienced a milder decline in exports, while producers of intermediate inputs and capital goods faced a stronger collapse in exports relative to producers of final consumer goods.

Suggested Citation

  • Benguria, Felipe, 2021. "The 2020 trade collapse: Exporters amid the pandemic," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:205:y:2021:i:c:s016517652100238x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2021.109961
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kristian Behrens & Gregory Corcos & Giordano Mion, 2013. "Trade Crisis? What Trade Crisis?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(2), pages 702-709, May.
    2. Iacovone, Leonardo & Ferro, Esteban & Pereira-López, Mariana & Zavacka, Veronika, 2019. "Banking crises and exports: Lessons from the past," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 192-204.
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    17. Benguria, Felipe, 2021. "The matching and sorting of exporting and importing firms: Theory and evidence," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    18. Alexander W. Bartik & Marianne Bertrand & Zoe Cullen & Edward L. Glaeser & Michael Luca & Christopher Stanton, 2020. "The impact of COVID-19 on small business outcomes and expectations," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 117(30), pages 17656-17666, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. Karime Chahuán-Jiménez & Rolando Rubilar-Torrealba & Hanns de la Fuente-Mella, 2021. "Market Openness and Its Relationship to Connecting Markets Due to COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-12, October.
    2. Filippo Bontadini & Mercedes Campio & Marco Duenas, 2023. "Being at the core: firm product specialisation," LEM Papers Series 2023/09, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    3. Nitsch, Volker, 2022. "Covid-19 and international trade: Evidence from New Zealand," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    4. Konstantins Benkovskis & Jaanika Merikull & Aurelija Proskute, 2024. "The transmission of trade shocks across countries: firm-level evidence from the Covid-19 crisis," Working Papers 2024/01, Latvijas Banka.
    5. de Lucio, Juan & Mínguez, Raúl & Minondo, Asier & Requena, Francisco, 2022. "Impact of Covid-19 containment measures on trade," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 766-778.
    6. Stefan Goldbach & Volker Nitsch, 2022. "Covid-19 and Capital Flows: The Responses of Investors to the Responses of Governments," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 33(4), pages 751-774, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Covid-19; Trade collapse; Exporters; Firms;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F1 - International Economics - - Trade

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