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Supply chain disruptions and labor shortages: COVID in perspective

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  • Pitschner, Stefan

Abstract

We use a neural network language model and dependency parsing to extract textual information about shortages from US corporate filings. This allows us to study the COVID pandemic in the broader context of other macroeconomic environments over the past 25 years. Shortages are much more prevalent during the pandemic than they are during other times, especially in the goods sector and for intermediate inputs. Firms also report significantly more increases in costs. The largest number of shortages occurs at the very end of our sample, in the first half of 2022. Our data are consistent with several known economic facts that are unrelated to the pandemic.

Suggested Citation

  • Pitschner, Stefan, 2022. "Supply chain disruptions and labor shortages: COVID in perspective," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:221:y:2022:i:c:s016517652200369x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2022.110895
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Raphael Lafrogne-Joussier & Julien Martin & Isabelle Mejean, 2023. "Supply Shocks in Supply Chains: Evidence from the Early Lockdown in China," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 71(1), pages 170-215, March.
    2. Gerard Hoberg & Vojislav Maksimovic, 2015. "Redefining Financial Constraints: A Text-Based Analysis," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(5), pages 1312-1352.
    3. Pitschner, Stefan, 2020. "How do firms set prices? Narrative evidence from corporate filings," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Bae, Jaewan & Kang, Jangkoo, 2023. "The role of labor in cash holdings: Evidence from the supply-side impact of COVID-19," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    2. Matteo Bonato & Rangan Gupta & Christian Pierdzioch, 2024. "Do Shortages Forecast Aggregate and Sectoral U.S. Stock Market Realized Variance? Evidence from a Century of Data," Working Papers 202450, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    3. Lin Chen & Stephanie Houle, 2023. "Turning Words into Numbers: Measuring News Media Coverage of Shortages," Discussion Papers 2023-8, Bank of Canada.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • E00 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - General
    • E23 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Production
    • E30 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • E65 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Studies of Particular Policy Episodes
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • F62 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Macroeconomic Impacts
    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises
    • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General
    • M20 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Economics - - - General
    • M21 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Economics - - - Business Economics

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