While several culprits have been proposed to explain the current trade collapse (e.g.
the credit crunch, global production chains, generalised loss of confidence), the great
synchronisation underlying the collapse suggests that it is very probably their interaction, rather than each individual effect, that might best explain why international
trade has taken such an epic hit in this global crisis.
The high-frequency pattern of trade flows also reveals systemic propagation effects
during the crisis that would be interesting to analyze further, as well as new patterns in the structure of trade flows. All these issues open interesting research questions for international trade economists.
