Economic Challenges For Europe After The Pandemic

This book focuses on the recovery and new normal in a post-Covid scenario, drawing important lessons from the pandemic and proposing new ideas for sustainable development, endogenous dynamism, and inclusive growth. The book presents different ideas and perspectives about the present and the future, reflecting on four main fields of our economic reality: macroeconomics, governments, technology, and society. It discusses important topics for future economic scenarios, beginning with an estimation of the economic consequences of the absence of an equitable distribution of vaccines. Further topics discussed include the government’s debts sustainability, the probability of an inflation/deflation or of a stagflation scenario, as well as the impact of US and European economic policies on economic growth. The book further investigates the economic costs of the pandemic, which have fallen most heavily on those least able to bear them. It examines governments subsidies, which supported people and firms through wage subsidies, unemployment benefits, and other fiscal measures, and discusses the question of whether more investment in health care, education, and other public services will still be needed. In a time of immense change and global challenges, this book is a must-read for scholars, researchers, and students of economics, as well as policy-makers interested in a better understanding of economic growth, energy, environment, migration, development, digital transformation, and demography.

This book analyses Europe’s COVID-19 response provided by governments and societies, to assess its influence on the economy from both a short- and long-term perspective. The authors argue that there are three key factors that determine how successful a given country is. The first is the determination and effectiveness of the government. The second is the capacity of states and their healthcare systems in times of crisis. The third is society’s willingness to adhere to emergency measures and to cooperate with authorities. The book examines the government policy of EU states during the pandemic; studies the behaviour of EU societies; reveals the influence of the pandemic crisis on the economy of EU states and formulates a successful strategy to counteract the challenges wrought by the pandemic. The book will appeal to scholars and researchers engaged in the fields of economic and political science, global studies and international relations. Furthermore, it will also be addressed to policy makers of European States as it contains a complex analysis of their policy responses and the corresponding impact on European economy and society.

This edited volume examines the development path of eight Central and Eastern European countries with an overlapping historical background that joined the European Union between 2004 and 2013, and identifies the main similarities and differences between the countries concerned. Based on wide comparative data analysis of Bulgaria, Croatia, The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia, each chapter in the volume provides detailed information about the state of the economy in a specific area preceding the pandemic shock. The book offers a detailed snapshot of the state of the different areas of the economy, starting from the time when the countries concerned came out of the 2008 financial crisis, up to the date when COVID-19 hit. Further, each chapter analyzes the effects of this unprecedented shock on a particular field, which is followed by highlighting the main problems the countries are facing at present and in the near future, together with identifying the available policy options. Finally, before concluding and making general and country-specific policy recommendations, some thoughts will be given to longer-term prospects. More specifically, the question of how the subject area could contribute to avoiding the "middle-income-trap" that this region may be facing will be addressed. The comprehensive approach makes this volume a must-read for scholars and students of economics, as well as policy decision-makers in Europe, interested in a better understanding of the region's economic development.

These proceedings constitute a selection of best papers from the 3rd International Conference on Economics and Social Sciences, Innovative Models to Revive the Global Economy, ICESS 2020, held in Bucharest, Romania, in October 2020. This book is a collection of research findings and perspectives related to recent economic challenges determined by the global crisis due to COVID 19, led by the set of improvements and changes in the economic, societal, and technological structures and processes towards the effort of reaching the sustainability goals. During a crisis, countries, and businesses must respond promptly to ensure survival. They need to rethink social contracts, redefine work and consumption, mobilize resources at speed and scale, and at the same time rethink patterns from global to local. The innovative models presented in this book aim to ensure simultaneous economic development, social development, and environmental protection, to achieve a higher quality of life for all people, and protect all living beings and the planet.

This book describes the history of European integration and the Eurozone, before presenting ways in which the European Union can move forward. Charting integration from before the Second World War, the foundations of the Eurozone are examined to provide insight into the challenges faced by the European Union, including the Global Financial Crisis, over recent decades. The impact of TARGET2 and the European Monetary System are also discussed. This book aims to highlight ways that current challenges to European integration, such as the COVID-19 crisis, environmental degradation, and fiscal debt, can be overcome to promote economic growth and social advancement. It will be relevant to students, researchers, and policymakers interested in the political economy and European economic policy.

The year 2020 went down in economic history due to the dramatic and drastic changes in economic and social conditions that resulted from the outbreak of the global pandemic of COVID-19. This book offers a multi-level narrative about the pandemic, written from national and international perspectives, enabling the authors to construct several macro- and mega-scenarios. The book consists of six chapters. Four of them discuss the process of the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Europe in 2020, i.e. the directions and dynamics of the spread and its socioeconomic consequences, and provide a comparative analysis of fiscal and monetary packages employed by Europe, with an emphasis on Eastern European countries. The remaining two chapters contain forecasts and scenarios. The fifth chapter, dedicated to forecasts, provides readers with a comprehensive description of possible consequences of any epidemic leading to severe social losses such as high percentages of infected and dead, limited interpersonal contacts as a result of lockdown, a lowered level of general individual and social well-being, as well as economic losses, for example a decline in production as a result of the collapse of aggregate demand and a reduction in the supply capacity of the economy, consequently slowing down the pace of capital accumulation. The sixth, final chapter describes possible scenarios of the spread of the pandemic in Poland and Ukraine, depending on measures taken by the governments of those countries. The Socioeconomic Impact of COVID-19 on Eastern European Countries is designed as a practical reference for scholars, researchers and policymakers.

Although global economic activity is recovering and output in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) is expected to grow in 2021, containing COVID-19 remains a challenge in the region. Enterprise survey data for the emerging and developing countries in the region show that COVID-19 had a profound and heterogeneous impact on firms. Smaller, younger, and female-run businesses were hit harder and had greater difficulty recovering. But the crisis also played a cleansing role and economic activity in ECA appears to have been reallocated toward more productive firms during the crisis, particularly in countries with more competitive markets. Firms with high pre-crisis labor productivity experienced significantly smaller drops in sales and employment than firms with low pre-crisis labor productivity and were also more likely to adapt to the crisis by increasing online activity and remote work. Many governments in ECA implemented broad policy support schemes to address the initial economic fallout from the crisis. Overall, this government support was more likely to go to less productive and larger firms, regardless of the level of their pre-crisis innovation. As economies enter the economic recovery phase, it will be important for policy makers in all countries to phase out broad policy support measures as soon as appropriate and focus on fostering a competitive business environment, which is key to a strong recovery, resilience to future crises, and sustainable, long-term economic growth.