 The dual shocks of the COVID-19 and the oil price collapse: A spark or a setback for the circular economy?Refk Selmi, Shawkat Hammoudeh, Kamal Kasmaoui, Ricardo Sousa and Youssef Errami Energy Economics, 2022, vol. 109, issue C Abstract: Is the COVID-19-induced unprecedented plunge in oil demand good news for the nascent circular economy in a material made from oil (i.e., the recycled plastics)? Since the plunge of oil prices, recycled plastics have become more expensive than virgin plastics, potentially encouraging manufacturers to shift away from the former to the latter. Our study primarily attempts to address whether recycled plastics will survive the tanked oil prices and COVID-19. To this end, we assess how the dual shocks of COVID-19 and the associated oil price collapse affect: (i) the dynamic co-movements between the international crude oil prices and the plastic and recycled plastic prices, and (ii) the responses of virgin plastics and recycled plastics in terms of diversification opportunities. Using different empirical methodologies (i.e., the event study methodology to assess changes in prices beyond expectations, the optimal hedge ratio, the portfolio weight, and copula-based approaches), the findings robustly suggest that with the rising uncertainty over COVID-19, the oil market and the performance of virgin plastic manufacturers are still significantly and positively connected, although a negative dependence with the recycled plastics is shown. With the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic, the inclusion of virgin plastics in a portfolio composed of oil only improves the reward-to-risk ratios. These results have relevant implications for risk management and policy design. Keywords: COVID-19; Oil price shock; Plastic and recycled plastic prices; Abnormal return; Diversification; Dynamic correlation analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:109:y:2022:i:c:s0140988322000937 DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2022.105913 Access Statistics for this article Energy Economics is currently edited by R. S. J. Tol, Beng Ang, Lance Bachmeier, Perry Sadorsky, Ugur Soytas and J. P. Weyant More articles in Energy Economics from Elsevier |
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