Publication
Open Access

Reshoring and plant closures in covid-19 times : evidence from Italian MNEs

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files
RSC 2021_94.pdf (1.36 MB)
Full-text in Open Access
License
Attribution 4.0 International
Full-text via DOI
ISBN
ISSN
1028-3625
Issue Date
Type of Publication
LC Subject Heading
Other Topic(s)
EUI Research Cluster(s)
Initial version
Published version
Succeeding version
Preceding version
Published version part
Earlier different version
Initial format
Citation
EUI RSC; 2021/94; Global Governance Programme-458; [Global Economics]
Cite
DI STEFANO, Enrica, GIOVANNETTI, Giorgia, MANCINI, Michele, MARVASI, Enrico, VANNELLI, Giulio, Reshoring and plant closures in covid-19 times : evidence from Italian MNEs, EUI RSC, 2021/94, Global Governance Programme-458, [Global Economics] - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/73468
Abstract
This paper provides new evidence on reshoring and plant closures ex-ploiting a novel dataset of Italian multinational firms surveyed throughout 2020 and 2021, the years of the Covid-19 pandemic. We find that Covid-19 did not spur large waves of reshoring nor plant closures. Even though the pandemic has caused severe losses to firms, including multinationals, most did not stop foreign production nor are willing to do so in the near future. Furthermore, they maintained existing suppliers. Tariffs and trade policy uncertainty, on the other hand, are more likely to induce reshoring and plant closures. This evidence is consistent with a simple multi-period model, illustrating how offshoring, on the one side, and reshoring or plant closures, on the other side, are asymmetric in important ways. In the presence of sunk costs, reshoring and plant closures require sufficiently large and permanent shocks to demand, trade and foreign production costs to induce behavioural changes. Covid-19 was a major shock, but it was mostly perceived as temporary, while persistent trade policy un-certainty, especially if combined with other shocks, might induce firms to revise their internationalization strategies.
Table of Contents
Additional Information
External Links
Version
Research Projects
Sponsorship and Funder Information