In class, we have recently been discuss the benefits of market economies: one of which being our market stability and a market's ability to self-correct when necessary. In this brief, Park et al. seek to explore some of the ways in which the PPE market responded to the overwhelming, global shortage that came as a result of the sudden and immediate necessity for PPE.
One of the main arguments of this brief suggests that "Since the COVID-19 outbreak, the supply chain for personal protective equipment (PPE) has not adequately functioned to meet the surge in demand" (Park et al 2020). While I can certainly agree that this would have been the case at the time this brief was published, in April of 2020, it is my opinion that the market has since had sufficient time to begin correcting this shortage and has effectively risen to the challenge. In my experience working for a company that has their hand in the PPE supply chain, I have seen that, although personal protective equipment is still not as readily available as this pandemic necessitates, for every PPE request that exists, there is a competitor that is willing and able to offer these products (even at prices lower than they would those pre-pandemic).
Interestingly, this brief also discusses policy implementations of the Asia Development Bank, done to aid the procurement of PPE for Asian companies. Within these policies is included a Supply Chain Finance Program that offered $200 million to aid in the manufacturing of PPE. Reading this article, I was hoping to see data or information on China's policy implementations, being that their economic institutions lean more toward communist/socialist ideologies and it would have been interesting to be able to compare.
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