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This paper studies the trade effects of COVID‐19 using monthly disaggregated trade data for 28 countries and multiple trading partners from the beginning of the pandemic to June 2020. Regression results based on a sector‐level gravity model show that the negative trade effects induced by COVID‐19 shocks varied widely across sectors. Sectors more amenable to remote work contracted less throughout the pandemic. Importantly, participation in global value chains increased traders’ vulnerability to shocks suffered by trading partners, but it also reduced their vulnerability to domestic shocks.

Economic development has increasingly become synonymous with "economic upgrading" within global production networks (GPNs). Yet, while there has been much research on connecting economic upgrading with economic growth and international trade, there has been less analysis of the relationship between economic and "social upgrading", i.e. improvements in the wages, conditions, rights, gender equality and economic security of workers in GPNs. Focusing on developing countries, this article reviews the ways in which economic and social upgrading are measured and scrutinizes the theoretical connection between these two dimensions of upgrading. The authors conclude with a brief discussion of policy implications.

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The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.