Responsible Consumption and Production
Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Commodities Exports to China
This research paper presents a preliminary assessment of the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on commodities exports to China with a focus on exports from Commodity Dependent Developing Countries (CDDCs). Results indicate that in comparison to short term tendencies observed in the past three years, total commodities exports to China are currently moving downward. As compared to a situation without the COVID-19 crisis, total commodities exports to China may fall by 15.5 to 33.1 billion US Dollars during 2020, resulting in reduction of the projected annual growth of up to 46 percent (i.e. 8 percentage points). Although CDDCs commodities exports to China are also expected to decrease, the estimated impact is weaker.
Coronagraben: Culture and Social Distancing in Times of COVID-19
Social distancing measures have been introduced in many countries in response to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. The rate of compliance to these measures has varied substantially. This research paper studies how cultural differences can explain this variance using data on mobility in Swiss cantons between January and May 2020. We find that mobility declined after the outbreak but significantly less in the German-speaking region. Contrary to the evidence in the literature, we find that within the Swiss context, higher generalized trust in others is strongly associated with lower reductions in individual mobility. We attribute these results to the German-speaking cantons having a combination of not only high interpersonal trust but also conservative political attitudes which may have altered the trade-off between the chance of contracting the virus and the costs associated with significant alterations of daily activities.
Moratorium on Electronic Transmissions: Fiscal Implications and Way Forward
The outbreak of COVID-19 (coronavirus) and the subsequent prolonged lockdowns have been accompanied by an exponential rise in imports of electronic transmissions, mainly of luxury items like movies, music, video games and printed matter. While the profits and revenues of digital players are rising steadily, the ability of the governments to check these conspicuous imports and generate additional tariff revenues is being severely limited because of the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions. This moratorium was agreed in 1998 with no consensus on the scope of the moratorium, no clarity on how electronic transmissions are classified or what they covered, and no notion of how the digital revolution will unfold. This paper proposes a basis for deciding the scope of the moratorium by using the trichotomy of ‘goods’, ‘intangible goods’ and ‘services.’ Further, using different classifications of ET, the paper estimates the potential tariff revenue losses and the development impact of the moratorium.
The Trade Impact of Voluntary Sustainability Standards: A Review of Empirical Evidence
The expansion of Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) has introduced tools to address key sustainability challenges and expand trade as well as new complexity in trade policy dialogues. Although VSS are voluntary, they have become a market reality and non-compliance can lead to the exclusion of producers from Global Value Chains (GVCs). Although the literature has adequately addressed the theoretical trade impact of VSS, there is a worrying lack of empirical analysis in this field. This paper aims to draw the attention of researchers towards the lack of evidence in this area. Given that the gap in the literature can partly be explained by data access, we also present some of the publicly available data sources and highlights the significance of increasing transparency in terms of data availability.
Computing Non-tariff Measures Indicators: Analysis with UNCTAD TRAINS Data
Data on Non-Tariff Measures (NTM) contribute to transparency and can be used for statistics suitable for economic analysis. This study provides a description of the data cleaning process applied to the UNCTAD TRAINS NTM Data for Research and describes the standard methodology to compute indicators. Analysts can use the indicators for descriptive statistics or as variables in economic models. The objective of this document is to describe in detail the nuances in the treatment of the data in practical terms and share the procedures to synthesize the data into indicators that provide information that is useful to build knowledge and derive conclusions.