IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unu/wpaper/wp-2022-89.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The pandemic and the state: Interrogating capacity and response to COVID-19 in West Bengal

Author

Listed:
  • Zaad Mahmood
  • Achin Chakraborty

Abstract

COVID-19 has brought to the fore the issue of state preparedness in mitigating health emergencies. This paper problematizes the received wisdom of greater state capacity in mitigating the severity of the pandemic. Based on a case study of West Bengal, a subnational state of India, it shows that measures of state capacity do not map onto the pandemic response and outcomes very clearly. The three components of state capacity, namely authority, capacity, and legitimacy, show significant variation during the pandemic response.

Suggested Citation

  • Zaad Mahmood & Achin Chakraborty, 2022. "The pandemic and the state: Interrogating capacity and response to COVID-19 in West Bengal," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2022-89, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2022-89
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/Publications/Working-paper/PDF/wp2022-89-the-pandemic-and-the-state.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jayati Ghosh, 2020. "A critique of the Indian government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 47(3), pages 519-530, September.
    2. Rajkumar, Andrew Sunil & Swaroop, Vinaya, 2008. "Public spending and outcomes: Does governance matter?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 96-111, April.
    3. Khemani,Stuti, 2019. "What Is State Capacity ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8734, The World Bank.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Micheal Kofi Boachie & K. Ramu & Tatjana Põlajeva, 2018. "Public Health Expenditures and Health Outcomes: New Evidence from Ghana," Economies, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-25, October.
    2. Ghulam Shabbir & Mumtaz Anwar & Shahid Adil, 2016. "Corruption, Political Stability and Economic Growth," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 55(4), pages 689-702.
    3. Vu, Trung V., 2020. "Economic complexity and health outcomes: A global perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    4. Qiang Li & Lian An & Jing Xu & Mina Baliamoune-Lutz, 2018. "Corruption costs lives: evidence from a cross-country study," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 19(1), pages 153-165, January.
    5. Jan Hanousek & Evžen Kočenda, 2011. "Public Investment and Fiscal Performance in the New EU Member States," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 32(1), pages 43-71, March.
    6. Harouna Sedgo & Luc Désiré Omgba, 2023. "Corruption and distortion of public expenditures: evidence from Africa," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 30(2), pages 419-452, April.
    7. João Paulo Magalhães & Joana Pestana & Renato Lourenço Silva & António Pereira & André Biscaia, 2024. "Avoidable hospital admissions depend on the primary healthcare governance model? A global health perspective from Europe countries," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 83(1), pages 127-141, January.
    8. Dzhumashev, Ratbek, 2014. "Corruption and growth: The role of governance, public spending, and economic development," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 202-215.
    9. Tommaso Agasisti & Cristian Barra & Roberto Zotti, 2020. "Public finance, government spending and economic growth: the case of local governments in Italy," Working papers 99, Società Italiana di Economia Pubblica.
    10. Shantanu Roy & C. Saratchand, 2023. "On the political economy of corporate encroachment in agriculture: short term macroeconomic concerns," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 40(3), pages 869-897, October.
    11. Pia Rebello Britto & Hirokazu Yoshikawa & Jan Van Ravens & Liliana A. Ponguta & Soojin S. Oh & Roland Dimaya & Richard C. Seder, 2013. "Understanding Governance of Early Childhood Development and Education Systems and Services in Low-Income Countries," Papers inwopa699, Innocenti Working Papers.
    12. Heckelman, Jac C. & Knack, Stephen & Rogers, F. Halsey, 2011. "Crossing the threshold : an analysis of IBRD graduation policy," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5531, The World Bank.
    13. Otubu, Osaretin Paul, 2020. "Public Expenditure and Economic Growth in Nigeria," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 4(6), pages 612-620, June.
    14. Muhammad Shahid Hassan & Samra Bukhari & Noman Arshed, 2020. "Competitiveness, governance and globalization: What matters for poverty alleviation?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 3491-3518, April.
    15. Warning, Susanne & Dürrenberger, Nicole, 2015. "Corruption and education: Does public financing of higher education matter?," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 112836, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    16. Sweta Sen & Narayan Chandra Nayak & William Kumar Mohanty, 2023. "Impact of tropical cyclones on sustainable development through loops and cycles: evidence from select developing countries of Asia," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 65(5), pages 2467-2498, November.
    17. Karim, Azreen & Noy, Ilan, 2015. "The (mis) allocation of public spending in a low income country: Evidence from disaster risk reduction spending in Bangladesh," Working Paper Series 4194, Victoria University of Wellington, School of Economics and Finance.
    18. Zechariah Langnel & Ponlapat Buracom, 2020. "Governance, health expenditure and infant mortality in sub‐Saharan Africa," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 32(4), pages 673-685, December.
    19. Irena Szarowska, 2013. "Relationship between government expenditure and output in the problematic regions in the European Union," Economy of region, Centre for Economic Security, Institute of Economics of Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, vol. 1(4), pages 190-199.
    20. Hilaire Gbodja Houeninvo, 2022. "Effects of health expenditures on infant and child mortality rates: A dynamic panel data analysis of 37 African countries," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 34(2), pages 255-267, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2022-89. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Siméon Rapin (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/widerfi.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.