Monthly Report No. 06/2020 (publication)

Monthly Report No. 06/2020

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wiiw Monthly Report No. 6, June 2020
43 pages including 2 Tables and 27 Figures

Chart of the month: Ricardian equivalence does not hold in practice
by Leon Podkaminer

Opinion Corner: COVID-19 is complicating global trade debates
by Julia Grübler
Trade policy used to be a niche topic of limited interest to the public. In recent years, however, it has received a much wider audience, making it to the front pages of newspapers. The current global health crisis has pushed some major trade policy issues – including disputes between China and the US – into the background. But they will flare up again, once the biggest uncertainties related to COVID-19 have been weathered, potentially in more complex ways than before.
Trade policy’s about-turn in times of global health distress
by Julia Grübler and Oliver Reiter
Over the last three years, trade policy has been characterised by a global revival of tariffs as trade policy instruments and retaliatory measures. Today, trade policy is in the grip of the coronavirus pandemic, leading to a reversal of recent tariff increases, while non-tariff measures are on the rise. The latter can have far-reaching consequences; and with imprudent use may even deepen the crisis.

A network of free trade agreements
by Oliver Reiter
The number of free trade agreements has been steadily increasing over the years. Do overlapping trade agreements have an additional effect, on top of the widely documented positive effect that trade agreements have on their own? In this article, we investigate how measures developed from a network perspective can add to our understanding of how free trade agreements influence trade flows.

Keywords: Ricardian equivalence, public debt, public revenues, coronavirus pandemic, trade policy, free trade agreements, trade in medical products, import tariffs, non-tariff measures, network of free trade agreements, trade creation

Countries covered: US, China, European Union, Japan, non specific

Research Areas: Macroeconomic Analysis and Policy, International Trade, Competitiveness and FDI