Episode 10

This research investigates the rise of consumer animus toward Chinese-made products on Amazon during the Covid-19 pandemic. By analyzing a year of data on facemask sales, the authors discovered that product ratings dropped significantly once a review or customer question identified the item as made in China. This decline in popularity followed a U-shaped recovery curve, where the initial backlash peaked within three weeks and typically dissipated after three months.

The study was coauthored by Dr. Danyang Zhang, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics, Applied Statistics, and International Business. The paper, entitled "Covid19 and consumer animus towards Chinese products: Evidence from Amazon data" was published in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization in 2025. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2025.107047)