IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/weltar/v161y2025i3d10.1007_s10290-024-00580-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Supply chain disruptions: firm-level evidence from the 2011 Tohoku earthquake

Author

Listed:
  • Lucas Zimmer

    (INSEEC Grande Ecole
    University of Bordeaux)

Abstract

In this article, we employed firm-level data from France and a difference-in-differences approach to examine how input shortages propagate through global value chains, using the Tohoku earthquake as a natural experiment. Our findings reveal an 8% relative decrease in imports for French firms sourcing inputs from Japan, with more substantial declines for those highly reliant on Japanese suppliers. This is coupled with a 12.8% relative increase in imports from China for these exposed firms. Additionally, we discover that this transition is primarily driven by the top 5% of large firms and is prominently observed within the automotive sector. Regarding the transmission of input shortages through the global supply chain, we find that this shock only affects the exports of firms with the lowest levels of inventory, exhibiting variations across sectors and a time-dependent pattern. Surprisingly, these affected firms have not adjusted their inventory strategies from just-in-time practices to safety stocks.

Suggested Citation

  • Lucas Zimmer, 2025. "Supply chain disruptions: firm-level evidence from the 2011 Tohoku earthquake," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 161(3), pages 965-995, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:weltar:v:161:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s10290-024-00580-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10290-024-00580-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10290-024-00580-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10290-024-00580-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • F1 - International Economics - - Trade
    • F6 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:weltar:v:161:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s10290-024-00580-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.