Traditionally anti-crisis economic policy tended to principles of budgetary restraints, spending cuts and overall budget consolidation. However, the COVID-19 pandemic made governments to re-think the essence of the anti-crisis economic policies. In a highly complex global economic and geopolitical landscape and with ongoing digital transformations in digital economies, governments have to think about specific measures to address these and other challenges like the support of livelihoods and business to be resilient and sustainable. This paper discusses measures for economic recovery designed by the governments of two East Asian countries – Korea and Japan. The analysis is based on a range of materials published by ministries and analytical centres. The authors argue that the overall approach to emergency management during COVID-19 and the design of short- and long-term support measures were influenced by concepts of corporate strategies. Paper provides answers about the nature of specific measures used by Korea and Japan and explores reasons why they were successful. Authors contribute to the discussion on specific actions that governments had to provide strategic for a vision for the future.
COVID-19; post-pandemic economic recovery; strategy; Republic of Korea; Japan.