Work

How trade affects pandemics? Evidence from severe acute respiratory syndromes in 2003

Year: 2021

Type: article

Abstract: This paper investigates whether the rapid expansion of international trade after China's WTO entry in 2001 promotes the spread of severe acute respiratory syndromes (SARS) in 2003. Examining the relationship is helpful to distinguish the hidden costs of trade openness. This paper uses Frankel and Romer (1999, The American Economic Review, 89, 379) framework to construct the geography‐based instruments by applying province‐country gravity relation for causal identification. Utilising cross‐section data of SARS cases of 31 provinces in China, our two‐stage least squares regression results show that international trade accelerates the spread of SARS. Cross‐country evidence also suggests the causal relation. In addition, we find that the people's inter‐provincial mobility driven by trade expansion drives the spread of epidemic diseases.

Source: World Economy

DOI: 10.1111/twec.13127

Authors: Faqin Lin, Xiaosong Wang, Mohan Zhou

Institutions: China Agricultural University, Renmin University of China, Zhejiang University

Language: English

Topic: Global trade and economics

Subfield: General Economics, Econometrics and Finance

Field: Economics, Econometrics and Finance

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Social Science Fund of China