| 21 January, Friday (1:00pm-2:30pm) Session 6A: International Trade and Investment |
COVID-era Trade Policy Passthrough to Trade Flows: First Evidence
Author/s: Anirudh Shingal, Pramila Crivelli, Prachi Agarwal
Countries have resorted to an increasing use of trade policy measures both restricting and facilitating imports and exports of essential food and medical products in response to the COVID-19 outbreak (Evenett et al. 2021). Using monthly data on both aggregate and bilateral trade flows in these products during 2020, we examine the trade policy passthrough of both multilateral and bilateral measures, including in a structural gravity framework. Our results suggest that trade in medical consumables and equipment may have responded to COVID-era trade policy activism along expected lines, especially for non-tariff measures. In contrast, the response of food and medicines and drugs trade was less consistent with theoretical predictions.
JEL codes: F1