A Comparison of the Effect of COVID-19 on Economic Consequences in China and The United States of America

Zhengzhuo Li ； Shuangzi Zhang ； Xuanjie Zhang

《Frontiers in Economics and Management》 1卷10期 (2020/10) Pp. 103-113

https://doi.org/10.6981/FEM.202010_1(10).0013

摘要

The COVID-19 is a new virus which outbroke in China in middle February. It spread through the whole China in less than 1 month, and infiltrated into other parts of the world very quickly. Till June 1st, 6,271,571 people in the world were infected, and 375,656 people died (source: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/ index. html). Not only have the pandemic caused deaths, economic impacts are significant, including a fall in GDP (growth rate), a rise in unemployment, trade dynamics, and so on. This study investigates the difference of economic impacts caused by the pandemic between the largest economy-the USA, and the second largest one-China. To represent economic impacts, three relevant indicators are used: GDP growth rate, unemployment rate and balance of trade. The result shows that China has a larger decline in GDP growth rate, the USA has a more significant rise in unemployment rate, and no significant difference between trend of balance of trade. Based on current situations and policies, the USA and Chinese GDP are projected to fall furtherly and unemployment rate will rise for both countries, but more severe for USA for both cases. In terms of balance of trade, that of China should be constant, whereas the US trade balance may improve continuously as imports are being cut.

關鍵字

Economic growth ； The USA ； China ； Coronavirus (COVID-19) ； Balance of trade ； GDP growth rate ； Unemployment rate ； Etc

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