Florida has one of the most diverse agricultural economies in the United States, producing several dozen types of fruits and vegetables that are consumed within the state, across the country, and around the world. The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting policy responses occurred during the peak of spring harvest season for many crops in Florida, abruptly removing market demand from the food service industry and shifting consumer purchasing habits, which enabled insights into several aspects of the fruit and vegetable supply chain. This article examines how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted fruit and vegetable industries in Florida, how these industries responded to COVID-19 impacts, and how Florida’s experience compared to that of other states. Data are derived from several sources including a statewide survey that measured agricultural production losses in Florida resulting from COVID-19 in early 2020, interviews with Florida operations that provided insights into how the pandemic induced change across the food supply chain, and a survey of food supply chain operations in three regions of the United States conducted in 2021.

Increasing demand for ecological restoration in the in the pursuit of long-term persistence of resource benefits has resulted in the development of a “restoration economy” in the United States, which has provided opportunity for business growth associated with ecological sustainability. Nearly all the restoration monitoring and evaluation efforts focus on the ecological outcomes of restoration, while the social and economic outcomes have received far less attention. One type of economic outcome that is often overlooked includes short-term economic impacts, which measure the market activity associated with the implementation of an ecological restoration project. This paper will provide an overview of how input–output analysis can be used as a method to quantify the economic impacts of ecological restoration projects. Using the Lone Cabbage Reef restoration project in Florida as a case study and IMPLAN© regional economic modeling software, we found that the implementation phase of the project supported 44 full-time and part-time jobs earning $1.01 million in labor income and generated $5.08 million in total industry output, including $3.02 million in total value added within the regional economy. These findings support the notion that short-term economic impacts are an important component when evaluating ecological restoration projects and can provide stakeholders with immediate and tangible, albeit short-term results. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Production processes depend on fragmented and interdependent value chains; nowadays, a single product often includes components produced in dozens of countries. Many public health measures being implemented to prevent the spread of COVID-19 have dampened economic activity of ‘non-essential’ sectors. The decreased production affects other industries and countries that supply parts, machinery, and services via global value chains. Using the World Input-Output Database, we show how a hypothetical decline in the worldwide consumption of a set of non-essential sectors affects the global distribution of GDP and employment. While richer countries consume relatively more non-essential goods and services, we find, by considering the interdependencies among developed and developing economies, that low-income countries are likely to suffer steeper declines in their GDP and employment. Specifically, for each 1% decline in the demand for non-essential products, the GINI index across nations is expected to rise by 0.3%. That is, global inequality is likely to rise, contradicting some earlier findings. Finally, we show that economies with less-diverse sets of industries are more vulnerable to such global shocks. This study highlights the role of value chains in analyzing the spatial spread of the impacts and their contribution to amplifying world imbalances.

Public health measures enacted to mitigate the spread of COVID‐19 have dampened economic activity by shuttering businesses that provide “nonessential” goods and services. Not surprisingly, these actions directly impacted demand for nonessential goods and services but the full impact of this shock on the broader economy will depend on the nature and strength of value chains. In a world where production chains are increasingly fragmented, a shock in one industry (or a group of industries) in one country will affect other domestic industries as well as international trade, leading to impacts on production in other countries. We employ the World Input‐Output Database to depict the interdependencies among both industries and countries, which provides a full representation of global value chains. By assuming a homogeneous impact to demand for nonessential goods and services around the world, we demonstrate asymmetric effects on production by industry and international trade, leading to asymmetric relative impacts to national economies. Our results indicate that if demand for nonessential goods and services decreases by 50%, the global gross domestic product will decline by 23%, leading to relative impacts that are larger in China, Indonesia, and some European countries. Also, international trade declines by almost 30%, largely due to a reduction in economic activity associated with the production of raw materials and certain types of manufacturing. This work highlights the relevancy of going beyond measuring the direct effects of COVID‐19 and provides insights into how international trade linkages will induce broader economic impacts across the globe.

Regional economic assessments (REAs), including economic contribution and impact analyses, are often used in resource-based industries to inform policymakers, elected officials, and the general public of an industry’s role within the regional economy. However, REAs have been difficult to conduct for the aquaculture industry due to issues with data availability and quality. This paper will provide an overview of economic contribution analysis, the challenges associated with applying these analyses to U.S. aquaculture production, and techniques to overcome these challenges. The Florida shellfish aquaculture industry is used as an example to highlight some of the data issues and how using different methods within a REA can lead to inaccurate representations of an industry’s economic contribution.