Canadian exports dropped by nearly 30 % in March of 2020 before shapely recovering. Which industries were most impacted, and how can the government smooth-out export shocks? To examine the first question, I develop a novel measure of industry complexity based on centrality in inter-industry flows. Using a sample of Canadian export data to all countries, I show that the top decile of complex industries experienced a 5.47 B (CAD) decrease in exports over the bottom decile in industries. Using multiple event studies, I show that the GVAC outperforms the literature’s foremost measure of identifying vulnerable industries.
