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The impact of COVID-19 on Japanese firms: mobility and resilience via remote work

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  • Daiji Kawaguchi

    (The University of Tokyo, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry, and IZA)

  • Sagiri Kitao

    (The University of Tokyo and Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry)

  • Manabu Nose

    (The International Monetary Fund and the University of Tokyo)

Abstract

Drawing on the original survey of Japanese firms during the COVID-19 pandemic, we estimate the impact of the crisis on firms’ sales, employment and hours worked per employee and roles of work-from-home (WfH) arrangements in mitigating negative effects. We find that the lowered mobility, induced by the state of emergency declared by the government and fear of infection, significantly contracted firms’ activities. On average, a 10% reduction in mobility reduced sales by 2.8% and hours worked by 2.1%, but did not affect employment. This muted employment response is consistent with limited changes in aggregate employment at the extensive margin during COVID-19 in Japan. We find that the adoption of WfH before COVID-19 mitigated the negative impact by 55% in terms of sales and by 35% in terms of hours worked. Adapting to the pandemic by increasing the number of remote work employees also helped firms moderately mitigate the negative impact on sales and work hours and reduce the probability of filing for the short-time work subsidy.

Suggested Citation

  • Daiji Kawaguchi & Sagiri Kitao & Manabu Nose, 2022. "The impact of COVID-19 on Japanese firms: mobility and resilience via remote work," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(6), pages 1419-1449, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:29:y:2022:i:6:d:10.1007_s10797-022-09749-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s10797-022-09749-7
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    Cited by:

    1. David R. Agrawal & Aline Bütikofer, 2022. "Public finance in the era of the COVID-19 crisis," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(6), pages 1349-1372, December.
    2. Cătălina Radu & Alecxandrina Deaconu & Iudith-Anci Kis & Adela Jansen & Sorina Ioana Mișu, 2023. "New Ways to Perform: Employees’ Perspective on Remote Work and Psychological Security in the Post-Pandemic Era," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-19, March.
    3. MORIKAWA Masayuki, 2022. "Productivity Dynamics of Work from Home since the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from a panel of firm surveys," Discussion papers 22061, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    4. Quentin Batista & Daisuke Fujii & Taisuke Nakata & Takeki Sunakawa, 2022. "COVID-19 and Suicide in Japan," CARF F-Series CARF-F-542, Center for Advanced Research in Finance, Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID-19; Work-from-home (WfH); Firm sales; Employment; Hours worked; Short-time work; Japanese economy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J5 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining
    • J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers
    • H5 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies

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