The Collapse Speed of China's Exports in the 2008-2009 Financial Crisis

This paper studies the performance of China’s exports during the 2008—2009 financial crisis. It focuses on the speed at which China’s exports were hit by this downturn. Product-country monthly exports data is utilized. It is found that GDP growth rates of importing countries play an important role in explaining how fast exports fall below the values of the same months in the previous year. Exports of capital and intermediate goods show the signs of collapse later than consumption goods; exports of differentiated goods contract sooner than homogeneous ones. Last, products with high shares of processing trade prior to the crisis are hit by the recession earlier than other products.