The COVID-19 pandemic has had serious
economic consequences. The global economy is predicted to experience a deep
contraction as the result of the temporary closure of production units and a
drop in demand due to social distancing occurring at the same time. In the context
of the regional economy, especially in East Asia and Southeast Asia, there has
been disruption in supply chain performance and there have been predictions of
a more costly network of production in the period after the pandemic. The
pandemic may accelerate the adoption of more advanced technology by
multinationals to substitute labour-intensive operations or to reorganise their
production units between countries within the region. Looking from a country
perspective, a challenge shared by many countries is to keep the production
side alive while demand has not yet fully recovered. But there is a real risk
here if the drop in demand is prolonged and does not fully recover to level of
the pre-pandemic period.
ERIA’s research on
COVID-19 and regional economic integration examines various issues relevant to
maintaining or protecting the elements, mechanisms, or objectives of regional
economic integration in East and Southeast Asia. Such a study can address
issues at the country or regional level, as long as it contributes to a greater
understanding and achieve the objective. Such study could also discuss policy
initiatives or utilise most recent data to examine particular issues.
The scope of
proposals can be expanded to cover more issues on demand side of an economy as
well as those of development more generally, such as household behaviour or
people’s life in the ‘new normal’ after the pandemic, human capital/labour
issues, social protection and inclusiveness, etc. Scope of the research
therefore covers wide area of research, but the research questions shall
converge to fulfilling the objective of the research.
ERIA provides
financial support up to a maximum of US$ 9,000 per study for selected
proposals, depending on the type or nature of research proposed (e.g. policy
discussion paper or empirical study based on a quantitative approach, etc.).
All studies are
expected to be fully completed by December 2020, with varying dates of
submission depending on the type or nature of the study.
Post Date -
15-Jul-2020