A Vicious Cycle: How Pandemics Lead to Economic Despair and Social Unrest

A Vicious Cycle: How Pandemics Lead to Economic Despair and Social Unrest PDF Author: Tahsin Saadi Sedik
Publisher: INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
ISBN: 9781513559162
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 22

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Book Description
In this paper we analyze the dynamics among past major pandemics, economic growth, inequality, and social unrest. We provide evidence that past major pandemics, even though much smaller in scale than COVID-19, have led to a significant increase in social unrest by reducing output and increasing inequality. We also find that higher social unrest, in turn, is associated with lower ourput and higher inequality, pointing to a vicious cycle. Our results suggest that without policy measures, the COVID-19 pandemic will likely increase inequality, trigger social unrest, and lower future output in the years to come.

The Macroeconomic Impact of Social Unrest

The Macroeconomic Impact of Social Unrest PDF Author: Metodij Hadzi-Vaskov
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1513582577
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 31

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Book Description
This paper explores the macroeconomic impact of social unrest, using a novel index based on news reports. The findings are threefold. First, unrest has an adverse effect on economic activity, with GDP remaining on average 0.2 percentage points below the pre-shock baseline six quarters after a one-standard deviation increase in the unrest index. This is driven by sharp contractions in manufacturing and services (sectoral dimension), and consumption (demand dimension). Second, unrest lowers confidence and raises uncertainty; however, its adverse effect on GDP can be mitigated by strong institutions and by a country’s policy space. Third, an unrest “event”, which is captured by a large change in the unrest index, is associated with a 1 percentage point reduction in GDP six quarters after the event. Impacts differ by type of event: episodes motivated by socio-economic reasons result in sharper GDP contractions compared to those associated with politics/elections, and events triggered by a combination of both factors lead to sharpest contractions. Results are not driven by countries with adverse growth trajectories prior to unrest events or by fiscal consolidations, and are robust to instrumenting via regional unrest.

Managing and Preventing Pandemics

Managing and Preventing Pandemics PDF Author: Roberto De Vogli
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 104011587X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
Using an evidence-based, critical, population health approach, this book provides a comprehensive analysis of the key errors and most effective interventions to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. It also examines the root determinants of pandemic risk on a global scale and addresses the policy changes to be implemented to prevent future health crises. Part One of the book discusses the lethal errors in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing particularly on those countries that failed to limit the death toll caused by the health crisis. These mistakes include lack of preparation, disinformation, medicalization, adoption of a “laissez-faire the virus” approach and inequity. Part Two analyzes the vital actions that enabled “virtuous” countries to effectively limit the most deadly effects of the pandemic: prevention, immunization and support. Part Three looks at what we should do to prevent the next pandemic. This part examines the proximal social and environmental causes of pandemic risk (e.g., deforestation, industrialized animal farming and climate change), as well as the “causes of the causes,” which include our model of global economic development and its philosophical and ideological underpinnings.

The Post-Pandemic World and Global Politics

The Post-Pandemic World and Global Politics PDF Author: A K M Ahsan Ullah
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9811919100
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
The book examines the impact of COVID-19 on economic and political processes, contending that the global reaction to the pandemic has been the largest failure in scientific policy in a generation. Unlike earlier crises, it has impacted the world's leading economies while also paralyzing international ties, provoking diverse and far-reaching reactions. The authors posit that no effective global response has been launched in response to this global catastrophe. Rather, governments have implemented a variety of policies based on the costs of virus protection against financial closure and isolation. In doing so, there has been a resurgence in nationalism. This book aims to provide comprehensive understanding of how the pandemic has widened political gaps, and demarcates what the long-term consequences might be in terms of policies and economics in the wake of the pandemic. Of interest to scholars in political geography, development studies, international relations, public administration, and health science, this book presents key observations on existing theories of global politics pivoted around the COVID-19 pandemic, and its ramifications on individuals, groups, and ultimately, the nation state.

Pandemics and Automation: Will the Lost Jobs Come Back?

Pandemics and Automation: Will the Lost Jobs Come Back? PDF Author: Tahsin Saadi Sedik
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1513566849
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 26

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Book Description
COVID-19 has exacerbated concerns about the rise of the robots and other automation technologies. This paper analyzes empirically the impact of past major pandemics on robot adoption and inequality. First, we find that pandemic events accelerate robot adoption, especially when the health impact is severe and is associated with a significant economic downturn. Second, while robots may raise productivity, they could also increase inequality by displacing low-skilled workers. We find that following a pandemic, the increase in inequality over the medium term is larger for economies with higher robot density and where new robot adoption has increased more. Our results suggest that the concerns about the rise of the robots amid the COVID-19 pandemic seem justified.

Impacts of COVID-19 on people’s food security: Foundations for a more resilient food system

Impacts of COVID-19 on people’s food security: Foundations for a more resilient food system PDF Author: Béné, Christophe
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 90

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Book Description
As part of the work implemented by CGIAR on COVID-19, the COVID-19 Research Hub Working Group 4 “Address food systems’ fragility and build back better” was tasked with implementing a global assessment of the impacts of COVID-19 on food systems and their actors, focusing specifically on the consequences that the pandemic had brought on the food security and nutrition of those who have been affected by the crisis. This includes formal and informal actors of the food supply chains (from producers to street vendors) as well as consumers, in both rural and urban environments. Building on this assessment, the task was then to draw on key principles of resilience in the context of humanitarian and food security crisis, to identify preliminary elements of a food system resilience research agenda.

Capitalism at a Crossroads

Capitalism at a Crossroads PDF Author: Ali Ari
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031232577
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
As the current capitalist system has been increasingly struggling to respond to the problems and uncertainties in the global economy, this book aims to identify the main economic, social, and ecological problems and discusses solutions for a more inclusive and sustainable economic system. Written by an international selection of contributors, it takes a wider perspective beyond classical orthodox economics. By doing so, this book covers a wide range of topics, such as global warming and climate change, food and energy scarcity, rising inequality and debt issues, health, ecological, economic, and political crises, degrowth, green new deals, solidarity, economy, artificial intelligence, technological change, smart solutions, and smart cities. Discussing these topics, the book presents answers to the question of whether the current capitalist system is viable and provides suggestions for a fair, inclusive, and modern economic system. Taking a comprehensive approach, the book will appeal to students, scholars, and researchers of heterodox and alternative economics.

Emerging European Economies after the Pandemic

Emerging European Economies after the Pandemic PDF Author: László Mátyás
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030939634
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 610

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Book Description
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.

Pricing Protest: The Response of Financial Markets to Social Unrest

Pricing Protest: The Response of Financial Markets to Social Unrest PDF Author: International Monetary Fund
Publisher: INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
ISBN: 9781513572765
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 69

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Book Description
Using a new daily index of social unrest, we provide systematic evidence on the negative impact of social unrest on stock market performance. An average social unrest episode in an typical country causes a 1.4 percentage point drop in cumulative abnormal returns over a two-week event window. This drop is more pronounced for events that last longer and for events that happen in emerging markets. Stronger institutions, particularly better governance and more democratic systems, mitigate the adverse impact of social unrest on stock market returns.

Financial Crises, Poverty and Environmental Sustainability: Challenges in the Context of the SDGs and Covid-19 Recovery

Financial Crises, Poverty and Environmental Sustainability: Challenges in the Context of the SDGs and Covid-19 Recovery PDF Author: Andreas Antoniades
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030874176
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 203

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Book Description
This volume advances the state-of-the-art in the study of the interplay among financial crises, poverty dynamics and environmental sustainability. It offers timely and unique contributions to the immediate global challenge of sustainable development. Developing a new evidence-base, the volume offers concrete recommendations for policy action needed in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in relation to environment and poverty during the current conditions of financial distress. The approach taken is inductive and evidence-driven. Most analysis is based on in-depth case studies that aim to offer a detailed and dynamic picture on how poverty and environmental sustainability interact in specific social contexts and financial crises. In this way the volume aims to generate a wealth of new and concrete evidence that offer a solid foundation to understand the multiple channels through which social and environmental factors interact, and the ways in which this interaction can and should be managed in order to achieve the needed global transition to sustainability. Broader dynamics that are covered and analysed include the historical legacies of structural adjustment and colonialism; the current debt wave experienced in developing countries; the role of inequality; the significant impact that climate change has on livelihoods and on meeting the SDGs; the new challenge presented by the Covid-19 pandemic for the SDGs; the challenge of sustainable funding for SDGs; and the need for a new eco-social contract. Case-studies examined include Cambodia, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Zambia, and subregions such as the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa and Lower Mekong Countries. The volume is part of a joint initiative by the ‘Sussex Sustainability Research Programme (SSRP)’ of the University of Sussex, the ‘UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Action for Sustainable Development Goals’ and the ‘United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD)’. The overall aim is to advance a new research programme and foster a better understanding of the multiple, complex and often opposing ways through which the punctuated economic slowdown of financial crises, poverty dynamics and environmental sustainability interact. It also makes novel recommendations into how poverty reduction and environment can work in synergy rather than being antagonistic, especially during financial distress, leading into recommendations directly geared towards achieving the SDGs and beyond.