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Technology and Resilience

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Listed:
  • Diego A. Comin
  • Marcio Cruz
  • Xavier Cirera
  • Kyung Min Lee
  • Jesica Torres

Abstract

This paper estimates the impact of technology sophistication pre-COVID-19 on the performance of firms during the early stages of the pandemic. We exploit a unique data covering firms from Brazil, Senegal, and Vietnam using a treatment effect mediation framework to decompose the results into a direct and an indirect effect. Increasing pre-pandemic technology sophistication by one standard deviation is associated with 3.8pp higher sales. Both effects are positive, but the direct effect is about 5 times larger than the indirect effect. The total effect on sales is markedly nonlinear with significantly smaller estimates of the reduction in sales for firms with more sophisticated pre-pandemic technology. Our results are robust to different measures of digital responses and matching estimators.

Suggested Citation

  • Diego A. Comin & Marcio Cruz & Xavier Cirera & Kyung Min Lee & Jesica Torres, 2022. "Technology and Resilience," NBER Working Papers 29644, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29644
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. James J. Heckman & Rodrigo Pinto, 2015. "Econometric Mediation Analyses: Identifying the Sources of Treatment Effects from Experimentally Estimated Production Technologies with Unmeasured and Mismeasured Inputs," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1-2), pages 6-31, February.
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    4. repec:diw:diwwpp:dp485 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Adams-Prassl, A. & Boneva, T. & Golin, M & Rauh, C., 2020. "Inequality in the Impact of the Coronavirus Shock: New Survey Evidence for the UK," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2023, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
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    14. Apedo Amah,Marie Christine & Avdiu,Besart & Cirera,Xavier & Vargas Da Cruz,Marcio Jose & Davies,Elwyn Adriaan Robin & Grover,Arti Goswami & Iacovone,Leonardo & Kilinc,Umut & Medvedev,Denis & Maduko,Fr, 2020. "Unmasking the Impact of COVID-19 on Businesses : Firm Level Evidence from Across the World," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9434, The World Bank.
    15. Xavier Cirera & Marcio Cruz & Elwyn Davies & Arti Grover & Leonardo Iacovone & Jose Ernesto Lopez Cordova & Denis Medvedev & Franklin Okechukwu Maduko & Gaurav Nayyar & Santiago Reyes Ortega & Jesica , 2021. "Policies to Support Businesses through the COVID-19 Shock: A Firm Level Perspective [Economic Uncertainty before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic]," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 36(1), pages 41-66.
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    Cited by:

    1. Copestake, Alexander & Estefania-Flores, Julia & Furceri, Davide, 2024. "Digitalization and resilience," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(3).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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