Asymmetric shock is an event that affects a specific economy (such as a country, region or trade bloc), while other economies are affected less or differently. This can also be the case within a common currency zone, where one part of the zone is affected by a shock, while other parts are not, or are affected differently.

An economic shock is a sudden and often unexpected change in an economic variable that pushes an economy, region or sector out of its normal cycle. In a symmetric shock, all economies, regions or sectors are affected equally. This is often the case in global recessions, where the impact is fairly uniform across different regions.

With asymmetric shocks, on the other hand, not all sectors or regions are affected equally. This can lead to divergence, where different parts of a region or currency bloc are affected in different ways. Asymmetric shocks often affect one country or region within a larger geographic area.

Examples of asymmetric shocks:

• A rapid rise in oil prices could have positive effects for oil-producing regions such as Texas and Alaska, while having negative consequences for oil-consumption-dependent areas such as California.
• The collapse of the Argentine peso in 2002 (the tango crisis) had a much greater impact on Spain than on other Eurozone countries due to the strong historical and business ties between Spain and Argentina.
• The rise of Apple and the success of the iPhone had a major impact on Finland because of the important role of telecom manufacturer Nokia in the Finnish economy.
• In 2022, the war in Ukraine was expected to hit the European economy much harder than the U.S. economy.