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The COVID-19 crisis in the EU: the resilience of healthcare systems, government responses and their socio-economic effects

Author

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  • Katerina Aristodemou

    (European Commission Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion)

  • Lucas Buchhass
  • Duco Claringbould

    (European Commission Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion)

Abstract

The global outbreak of COVID-19 forced EU governments to implement drastic confinement measures to contain the spread of the Coronavirus. These measures, however, come at a high economic cost. In this work, we analyze the resilience/preparedness of public health systems, the confinement measures introduced by governments, and their socio-economic effects. We also investigate the relationships between these elements by focusing on the EU Member States. We conduct an after-action review (AAR) study based on three indices. The first index indicates the preparedness of the countries’ health systems to deal with a potential health shock resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak. The second index shows the strictness of confinement measures taken per Member State in spring 2020. Finally, the third index captures the expected socio-economic effects of such measures on each country for the year 2020. Our findings show that on average, countries with less prepared health systems implemented stricter confinement measures and that higher levels of stringency in the confinement measures are associated with stronger, negative, socio-economic impacts. However, the results differ across countries in the case of each index. Overall, the results call for health systems to be better prepared to handle public health crises and for a more coordinated EU approach to overcome divergences across countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Katerina Aristodemou & Lucas Buchhass & Duco Claringbould, 2021. "The COVID-19 crisis in the EU: the resilience of healthcare systems, government responses and their socio-economic effects," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 11(2), pages 251-281, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eurase:v:11:y:2021:i:2:d:10.1007_s40822-020-00162-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s40822-020-00162-1
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    2. Fang, Hanming & Wang, Long & Yang, Yang, 2020. "Human mobility restrictions and the spread of the Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    3. Daron Acemoglu & Victor Chernozhukov & Iván Werning & Michael D. Whinston, 2021. "Optimal Targeted Lockdowns in a Multigroup SIR Model," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 3(4), pages 487-502, December.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Antoine Tonnoir & Ioana Ciotir & Adrian-Liviu Scutariu & Octavian Dospinescu, 2021. "A Model for the Optimal Investment Strategy in the Context of Pandemic Regional Lockdown," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-12, May.
    3. Costase Ndayishimiye & Christoph Sowada & Patrycja Dyjach & Agnieszka Stasiak & John Middleton & Henrique Lopes & Katarzyna Dubas-Jakóbczyk, 2022. "Associations between the COVID-19 Pandemic and Hospital Infrastructure Adaptation and Planning—A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-22, July.
    4. Keh, Chia-Guan & Tan, Yan-Teng, 2021. "COVID 19: The Impact of Government Policy Responses on Economic Activity and Stock Market Performance in Malaysia," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 55(1), pages 123-133.
    5. Fleming, Pádraic & O'Donoghue, Catherine & Almirall-Sanchez, Arianna & Mockler, David & Keegan, Conor & Cylus, Jon & Sagan, Anna & Thomas, Steve, 2022. "Metrics and indicators used to assess health system resilience in response to shocks to health systems in high income countries—A systematic review," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(12), pages 1195-1205.
    6. Beata Bieszk-Stolorz & Iwona Markowicz, 2022. "The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Situation of the Unemployed in Poland. A Study Using Survival Analysis Methods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-19, October.
    7. Doris A. Behrens & Marion S. Rauner & Margit Sommersguter-Reichmann, 2022. "Why Resilience in Health Care Systems is More than Coping with Disasters: Implications for Health Care Policy," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 74(4), pages 465-495, December.
    8. Fangxin Yi & Jun Jie Woo & Qiang Zhang, 2022. "Community Resilience and COVID-19: A Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis of Resilience Attributes in 16 Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-18, December.
    9. Cakici, Nusret & Zaremba, Adam, 2021. "Who should be afraid of infections? Pandemic exposure and the cross-section of stock returns," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    10. Jurgita Markevičiūtė & Jolita Bernatavičienė & Rūta Levulienė & Viktor Medvedev & Povilas Treigys & Julius Venskus, 2022. "Impact of COVID-19-Related Lockdown Measures on Economic and Social Outcomes in Lithuania," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(15), pages 1-20, August.
    11. Assaf, Ata & Mokni, Khaled & Yousaf, Imran & Bhandari, Avishek, 2023. "Long memory in the high frequency cryptocurrency markets using fractal connectivity analysis: The impact of COVID-19," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID-19; European Union; EU; Confinement measures; Socio-economic impact; Health systems;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A13 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Social Values
    • C43 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Index Numbers and Aggregation
    • C90 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - General
    • E60 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - General
    • H5 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies
    • H6 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor

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