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A General Equilibrium Assessment of COVID-19's Labor Productivity Impacts on China's Regional Economies

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Abstract

This study introduces a database that can be used to analyze COVID-19's impacts on China's regional economies. This database contains various sectoral and regional economic outcomes. In the context of a general equilibrium trade model, we utilize the provincial and sectoral value-added and national trade series to estimate COVID-19's province-by-month labor-productivity impacts. Compared to February 2019 levels, we find an average 37.9% decrease in labor productivity (equivalent to around 293 million jobs) and an average 20.8% decrease in welfare across provinces in February 2020. Both labor productivity and welfare have recovered quickly since April 2020. As of September 2020, average provincial labor productivity increased by 29.8% (equivalent to around 230 million jobs) and average welfare increased by 14.7% relative to their September 2019 levels.

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  • Xi He & Edward J. Balistreri & Gyu Hyun Kim & Tao Xiong & Wendong Zhang, 2021. "A General Equilibrium Assessment of COVID-19's Labor Productivity Impacts on China's Regional Economies," Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) Publications 21-wp617, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University.
    • Handle: RePEc:ias:cpaper:21-wp617
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    Cited by:

    1. Nieyan Cheng & Wendong Zhang & Tao Xiong, 2022. "The Impact of China's Place-based Environmental Regulations on its Hog Industry: A Synthetic Difference-in-differences Approach," Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) Publications 21-wp619, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University.
    2. Edward Balistreri & Felix Baquedano & John C. Beghin, 2022. "The impact of COVID‐19 and associated policy responses on global food security," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 53(6), pages 855-869, November.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • E20 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • F10 - International Economics - - Trade - - - General
    • R13 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General Equilibrium and Welfare Economic Analysis of Regional Economies

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