Global pandemic crisis: regulatory opportunities

Vercueil J.

Abstract

The article examines the economic and institutional consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. State became the main decision-making actor in the economic and social fields. In many countries, the economy was frozen. The most influential economic actors, banks and corporations, were forced to submit to government decisions. In turn, the state provided them with assistance. In order to prevent a sharp impoverishment of the population and to support solvent demand in their countries, many states developed measures aimed at providing social support to citizens. The state formulated a sanitary policy, introducing a self-isolation regime, as well as universal vaccination or testing of the population. There are two strategies of sanitary policy in the world. In the countries of East Asia, a strategy of «zero tolerance to coronavirus» was adopted: in case of infection, cities, regions and countries were completely closed and strict quarantine was introduced. European countries mainly favored social restrictions, counting on universal vaccination of the population. The weakness of the first strategy was that it was ineffective with the emergence of new strains of the virus, while the second strategy led to high mortality and an overload of medical institutions. The pandemic had serious economic consequences, with value chains broken and international supplies disrupted. The question of whether it will be possible to restore the economic structures of the pre-pandemic period remains open. However, one thing is clear: since the pandemic is global in nature, a way out of it can only be found at the global level.

Keywords

COVID-19 pandemic; state; economy; social policy; regulation; crisis; sanitary policy.

DOI: 10.31249/rsm/2022.02.03

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