The Role of Global Supply Chains in the Transmission of Shocks: Firm-Level Evidence from the 2011 Tōhoku Earthquake, Accessible Data

Accessible version of figures

Figure 1: Manufacturing Production in Japan and the U.S.: Months Surrounding the 2011 Tōhoku Earthquake.

Source: Boehm, Flaaen, and Pandalai Nayar (2015)

Figure plots the index of Japanese industrial production at a monthly frequency (with y-axis on left), and the index of U.S. industrial production at a monthly frequency (with y-axis on right). For both sets of y-axis, the measure is the index after removing the trend component using an HP-filter. The x-axis measures time at a monthly frequency, beginning at July 2010 and ending at January 2012. For the Japanese industrial production, the figure begins at a value of around 0.03 and is flat for some months, with a slight upward movement for about 3 months. Then in the month of March 2011, the figure drops by roughly 15 percentage points on the graph, and then slowly recovers to its pre-drop level by around August-September of 2011. The figure is roughly flat thereafter. The line for the United States begins at about 0.012 and is roughly flat until the month of April 2011. At that point there is a sharp fall of roughly 1 percentage point. The line remains at this low level for about 5 months before gradually returning to the level before the drop. The last few points of the line (corresponding to December and January) have a jump upwards of about 1 percentage point.

Return to text

Figure 2. Density of firm-level exposure to Japanese imported inputs: by firm type.

Source: Boehm, Flaaen, and Pandalai Nayar (2015)

Figure plots a measure of the density (relative frequency) of firms across a measure of the exposure to Japanese imported inputs in the year 2010. The figure plots this measure separately for two firm groups: Japanese affiliates and non-Japanese firms. The y-axis measures the density across each firm group, and ranges from 0 to 0.5. The x-axis measures the log exposure to Japanese imported inputs, and ranges from -12 to 0. The line for non-japanese firms begins at a very low density close to zero, and then gradually rises as the log exposure measure becomes less negative. It reaches a peak of roughly 0.018 at a value of -6 for the log exposure measure, and then gradually declines back to zero as the log exposure measure approaches zero. The line for Japanese affiliates only begins at a measure of log exposure of about -0.8, with a density that is very low, essentially zero. This line increases as the log exposure measure gets less negative, and then increases rapidly beginning at around -2, reaching a peak of roughly 0.45 at a log exposure measure of -0.5. It then rapidly declines as the log exposure measure approaches zero.

Return to text

Figure 3. Relative Imported Inputs and Output (Proxy) of Japanese Affiliates in the United States: Fraction of Pre-shock Level.

Source: Boehm, Flaaen, and Pandalai Nayar (2015)

The figure plots the relative imported inputs and output of Japanese firms relative to a control group in the months preceding and following the March (2011) earthquake. The y-axis is measured as a fraction of pre-shock levels and ranges from -0.6 to 0.1. The x-axis measures time at a monthly frequency relative to the month of the earthquake (March 2011) which is denoted 0. Thus the x-axis ranges from -4 to 9. The line for the relative intermediate inputs is around zero up until month zero. It dips down sharply at month=1 to -0.3 and then dips further to a trough of about -0.4 at month=3 and then gradually returns to near zero by the end of the period (period 9) The line for the relative output is close to zero until month 1 where there is a large dip. The trough occurs at month=2 at a value of roughly -0.5. The line then recovers slowly back to the initial level of roughly zero, reaching it at month 6. It remains close to zero for the remaining periods, with a slight upward trend up to +0.05 by month=9.

Return to text