The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on globalization

Covid-19 is one of the biggest health crises in world history. As a matter of fact, while the global economic growth rate was 2.6% in 2019, the world economy experienced one of the largest contractions in its history, with a 3.1% contraction in 2020. Recession expectations continue in the global economy, especially due to changes in energy costs caused by supply and demand shocks in energy markets and the existence of high foreign dependency in energy markets. Determining the magnitude of economic losses occurring during the pandemic process is important in reducing the economic losses that may be caused by possible epidemics in the future. The aim of this study is to empirically analyze the effects of Covid-19 on globalization, based on the literature on the economic costs of diseases. Using 2019 and 2020 KOF globalization index data in the study, whether Covid-19 created a statistically significant difference between globalization and globalization components was analyzed with Paired t Test and Wilcoxon Test. There are studies in the literature that analyze the effects of Covid-19 on economic and social life and address the effects of Covid-19 on globalization at a theoretical level. This study is important as it is the first study to empirically analyze the effects of Covid-19 on globalization and measure the magnitude of the effects. The results obtained from the study show that Covid-19 has a large impact that can create a statistically significant difference between the average globalization components before and after the pandemic.