Impact of covid-19 on trade in services

Ando Mitsuyo and Kazunobu Hayakawa

No 824, IDE Discussion Papers from Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO)

Abstract: In past shocks (e.g., the 2008–2009 global financial crisis), the services trade was found to be more resilient than the goods trade. However, the ongoing novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has restricted people’s cross-border mobility, which is fatal to the services trade because it often requires physical proximity between suppliers and consumers. We empirically examine the impact of COVID-19 on the services trade using quarterly data from 146 countries in 2019 and 2020. Its severity is measured according to the number of cases, the number of deaths, and an index measuring the severity of lockdown orders. We found that COVID-19 had a significantly negative impact on the services trade. Moreover, the extent of the impact varied among disaggregated services sectors, reflecting the nature of services. Travel services were the most affected, followed by transport services and construction services. The harmful effects on the trade in these services were more serious than those on the goods trade.

Keywords: Novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); Trade in services; Balance of payments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F15 F53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-09
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in IDE Discussion Paper = IDE Discussion Paper, No. 824. 2021-09

Downloads: (external link)
https://ir.ide.go.jp/record/52856/files/IDP000824_001.pdf First version, 2021 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Impact of COVID-19 on trade in services (2022)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper824

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
Publication Office, IDE 3-2-2 Wakaba, Mihama-ku, Chiba-shi, Chiba 261-8545 JAPAN
http://www.ide.go.jp/English/Publish/Order

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IDE Discussion Papers from Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michitaka Imamitsu ().