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Impact of covid-19 on trade in services

Author

Listed:
  • Ando, Mitsuyo
  • Hayakawa, Kazunobu

Abstract

In past shocks (e.g., the 2008–2009 global financial crisis), the services trade was found to be more resilient than the goods trade. However, the ongoing novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has restricted people’s cross-border mobility, which is fatal to the services trade because it often requires physical proximity between suppliers and consumers. We empirically examine the impact of COVID-19 on the services trade using quarterly data from 146 countries in 2019 and 2020. Its severity is measured according to the number of cases, the number of deaths, and an index measuring the severity of lockdown orders. We found that COVID-19 had a significantly negative impact on the services trade. Moreover, the extent of the impact varied among disaggregated services sectors, reflecting the nature of services. Travel services were the most affected, followed by transport services and construction services. The harmful effects on the trade in these services were more serious than those on the goods trade.

Suggested Citation

  • Ando, Mitsuyo & Hayakawa, Kazunobu, 2021. "Impact of covid-19 on trade in services," IDE Discussion Papers 824, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    • Handle: RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper824
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    File URL: https://ir.ide.go.jp/record/52856/files/IDP000824_001.pdf
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Hayakawa, Kazunobu & Hyun-Hoon, Lee & Cyn-Young, Park, 2022. "Impacts of COVID-19 on foreign direct investment," IDE Discussion Papers 831, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    2. Fahad Maqnas & Rozina Shaheen, 2025. "Services Sector Led Growth Hypothesis, A Fractionally Integrated Heterogeneous Panel Data Analysis for G20 Countries," SAGE Open, , vol. 15(4), pages 21582440251, December.
    3. Adrian Tudor Tudorache & Luminița Nicolescu, 2023. "Insights about the Effects of COVID-19 on International Trade during the Main Pandemic Years in Romania and Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-20, May.
    4. Witold Chmielarz & Marek Zborowski & Xuetao Jin & Mesut Atasever & Justyna Szpakowska, 2022. "On a Comparative Analysis of Individual Customer Purchases on the Internet for Poland, Turkey and the People’s Republic of China at the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-21, June.
    5. Xingyan Yu & Shihong Zeng, 2025. "Evolution of the Spatial Network Structure of the Global Service Value Chain and Its Influencing Factors—An Empirical Study Based on the TERGM," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-30, October.
    6. Bashir Adelowo Wahab & Adamu Jibir & Musa Abdu, 2024. "COVID-19 Pandemic and Household Entrepreneurship in Nigeria: Do Crises Create Necessity-driven and/or Innovative Entrepreneurship?," Global Journal of Emerging Market Economies, Emerging Markets Forum, vol. 16(2), pages 270-286, May.
    7. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2022. "Effect of structural economic vulnerability on the participation in international trade," EconStor Preprints 262004, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    8. Carlos David Cardona Arenas & Daniel Osorio Barreto & Diego Manrique Cabezas, 2025. "The Short-Term Effects of COVID-19 on the Manufacturing Industry in Colombia: Unveiling Insights through a Natural and Exogenous Experiment," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 16(1), pages 691-712, March.
    9. Supareuk Tarapituxwong & Namchok Chimprang & Woraphon Yamaka & Piangtawan Polard, 2023. "A Lasso and Ridge-Cox Proportional Hazard Model Analysis of Thai Tourism Businesses’ Resilience and Survival in the COVID-19 Crisis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-22, September.
    10. Georgeta Ilie, 2023. "Trade In Skill-Intensive Services - Through the Pandemic and Accelerating Digitalization," Global Economic Observer, "Nicolae Titulescu" University of Bucharest, Faculty of Economic Sciences;Institute for World Economy of the Romanian Academy, vol. 11(1), pages 73-83, May.
    11. Konstantins Beņkovskis & Jaanika Meriküll & Aurelija Proškute, 2025. "The Transmission of Trade Shocks Across Countries: Firm‐Level Evidence From the Covid‐19 Crisis," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(6), pages 1376-1404, June.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • F53 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - International Agreements and Observance; International Organizations

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