Reducing the Socio-economic Impact of COVID-19 Crisis Through Public Measures and Support Schemes

The COVID-19 global crisis goes far beyond its medical roots and has an unprecedented impact on economies around the world, welfare of population and human life, in general, as we used to know it. In most sectors of the economy, large, middle, and small businesses are facing enormous challenges in this period of time and are struggling to adapt their business models to the new reality in order to survive. The current socio-economic situation urges a prompt and effective reaction from public authorities and institutions. In most of the countries and also at the level of international institutions and organisations, there were developed many initiatives and also concrete policies and measures aimed at helping businesses to cope with the sudden and unpredictable challenges posed by COVID-19 crisis. Many of these measures refer to fiscal and financial incentives, but also support schemes for employees and temporary changes in business, trade, and labour legislation. The present paper aims at conducting a comparative analysis of such measures adopted in different countries. Therefore, after delivering a brief introduction of the socio-economic aspects of COVID-19 crisis, the paper focuses on providing an overview of the most important initiatives in this respect. Considering the rapidly changing environment, the research is based both on academic literature and analysis of official documents, press articles, public statements from various institutions and organisations, the latest news from prestigious magazines, news agencies, etc.