Trade and the Global Recession

National Bank of Belgium Working Paper No. 196

74 Pages Posted: 15 Oct 2010 Last revised: 8 Dec 2010

See all articles by Jonathan Eaton

Jonathan Eaton

Pennsylvania State University, College of the Liberal Arts - Department of Economic

Samuel S. Kortum

University of Chicago - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Brent Neiman

University of Chicago - Booth School of Business; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

John Romalis

University of Chicago - Booth School of Business; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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Date Written: November 10, 2010

Abstract

The ratio of global trade to GDP declined by nearly 30 percent during the global recession of 2008-2009. This large drop in international trade has generated significant attention and concern. Did the decline simply reflect the severity of the recession for traded goods industries? Or alternatively, did international trade shrink due to factors unique to cross border transactions? This paper merges an input-output framework with a gravity trade model and solves numerically several general equilibrium counterfactual scenarios which quantify the relative importance for the decline in trade of the changing composition of global GDP and changes in trade frictions. Our results suggest that the relative decline in demand for manufactures was the most important driver of the decline in manufacturing trade. Changes in demand for durable manufactures alone accounted for 65 percent of the cross-country variation in changes in manufacturing trade/GDP. The decline in total manufacturing demand (durables and non-durables) accounted for more than 80 percent of the global decline in trade/GDP. Trade frictions increased and played an important role in reducing trade in some countries, notably China and Japan, but decreased or remained relatively flat in others. Globally, the impact of these changes in trade frictions largely cancel each other out.

Suggested Citation

Eaton, Jonathan and Kortum, Samuel S. and Neiman, Brent and Romalis, John, Trade and the Global Recession (November 10, 2010). National Bank of Belgium Working Paper No. 196, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1692582 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1692582

NBB Submitter (Contact Author)

National Bank of Belgium ( email )

Brussels, B-1000
Belgium

Jonathan Eaton

Pennsylvania State University, College of the Liberal Arts - Department of Economic ( email )

608 Kern Graduate Building
University Park, PA 16802-3306
United States
814-865-8871 (Phone)

Samuel S. Kortum

University of Chicago - Department of Economics ( email )

1126 East 59th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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Brent Neiman

University of Chicago - Booth School of Business ( email )

5807 S. Woodlawn Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
United States

HOME PAGE: http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/brent.neiman/index.html

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

John Romalis

University of Chicago - Booth School of Business ( email )

5807 S. Woodlawn Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

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