Category: COVID-19

Sub-Saharan countries are taking on more debt, and women will bear the brunt of repaying it

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By Matthew Barlow,听 and

By May 2020, every African nation had registered cases of COVID-19. By late July, cases had . A key factor in Africa鈥檚 struggle to mount a response to the pandemic (although not the only one) is that years of debt servicing have eroded states鈥� capacities to build strong health systems.

Research on crisis and pandemics in different parts of the world, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), shows that countries will respond to COVID-19 in two phases 鈥� the fiscal expansion phase, which involves a series of stimulus packages, and the fiscal contraction phase, which is characterised by austerity. In the case of COVID-19, these phases will require significant levels of financing. In a region with predominantly , debt and donor aid have become an alternative way for governments to finance state obligations. Currently is below the 60% (danger) threshold, which is way below the crisis levels of the 1980s and 1990s.

However, due to low credit ratings translating into poor interest rates. By 2018, 18 SSA countries were at of debt distress and governments made austerity cuts to public services to service their debt obligations. In 2018, 46 low-income countries 鈥� most of which are in SSA鈥� were spending more on debt servicing than on healthcare. Annually, SSA countries were spending an average of $70 per capita on (supplemented with $10 external assistance), in contrast to $442 in China and an average of in the EU.Read More »

Oikonomia is Back, for Now

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Plato and Aristotle, at The School of Athens. Photo by By Raphael – .

The current pandemic is a human tragedy on an enormous scale, not only in terms of death and illness but also in loss of employment, disruption to education and increased anxiety. Perhaps of most concern to politicians, the various restrictions put in place to reduce the spread of COVID-19 have had large negative effects on national and regional economies.听

As a result, many leaders have opted to 鈥榬e-open鈥� their economies prematurely, partly since economic performance affects electoral cycles. In some cases there have been disastrous consequences to such loosening of social distancing restrictions, with spikes in infections in various countries or states. This has led to a discussion of a false dichotomy – between protecting human life and reviving the economy.听

This dichotomy is false for several reasons. At the most basic level, if large parts of the population get infected and either die or are unable to work, this would not bode well for the economy either. But more fundamentally, what we think of as 鈥榯he economy鈥� is really broader than just profits and asset values.听Read More »

The Use and Abuse of the Phrase 鈥淕lobal Public Good鈥�

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A flawed understanding of the concept of 鈥減ublic good鈥� hampers the fight for equitable access to the upcoming COVID-19 vaccine

The term 鈥済lobal public good鈥� has been used in very different ways by policy makers, economists and others. The term 鈥済lobal鈥� is not particularly controversial, and in this context is generally understood to involve cases where the benefits of the service or good impact residents of more than one country, even if not necessarily the whole world. The term 鈥減ublic good鈥� is subject to more diverse uses, often depending upon one鈥檚 educational or professional training.

For many people, perhaps most, the term 鈥減ublic good鈥� is loosely defined to include cases where governments are willing to undertake measures to expand access, with universal access at least an aspirational goal. However, among the other influential definitions of 鈥減ublic good鈥� is one that is exceptionally restrictive. A proposal by Paul Samuelson first published in 1954, meant at the time as an extreme and polar case, has found its way into countless articles, textbooks and academic courses, and has parameters that are rarely met in practice. At times, Samuelson鈥檚 66-year-old paper is actually an obstacle to collective efforts to supply and distribute goods that have considerable impact on society.

The COVID-19 pandemic presents an astonishing global challenge regarding the control of the pandemic and the reduction of harm. The health impacts are large, particularly for older patients, and growing unpredictably, and the pandemic has had an enormous social and economic impact on everyone, with no obvious end in sight.Read More »

Ephemeral universalism in the social protection response to the COVID-19 lockdown in the Philippines

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By Emma Lynn Dadap-Cantal, Andrew M. Fischer and Charmaine G. Ramos

Since March 2020, the Philippines has implemented one of the world鈥檚 strictest and longest lockdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused severe disruptions in peoples鈥� livelihoods. The government鈥檚 emergency social protection response, the 鈥楽ocial Amelioration Program鈥� (SAP), has also been notably massive, introducing one-off near-universal income protection. It is an insightful case given that the country鈥檚 existing social assistance system has been celebrated as a model for developing countries, even though it has been mostly bypassed in the emergency response. Moreover, the country鈥檚 highly stratified and fragmented social policy system has resulted in implementation delays and irregularities that have fostered social hostilities and undermined the potential for such momentary universalism to have lasting transformative effects.

The Philippine government first imposed its 鈥榗ommunity quarantine鈥� on 15 March, which has since been extended until 30 June. Thus far, the pandemic has not been severe relative to evolving global indicators, with 302 confirmed infections per million people and 11 confirmed deaths per million people as of 25 June (although at only 5,760 tests per million people, these confirmed rates are likely to be significantly underestimated). However, as elsewhere in the Global South, the lockdown has thrown the country into an employment crisis given that more than 60 percent of its workforce is informal, most in precarious situations even when earning above the official poverty line.

In response, the government rolled out the 鈥楽ocial Amelioration Program鈥� (SAP), comprising at least 13 different schemes and with an estimated total budget equivalent to as much as 3.1 percent of the country鈥檚 GDP [1]. The largest scheme is the Emergency Subsidy Program (ESP), which has been allocated 200 billion Philippines pesos (PhP; about 3.5 billion euros), more than three times the combined budget of all the other schemes.Read More »

COVID in Pakistan, the Role of Middle-Classes and the Unprecedented Demand for a New Social Contract

Farwa Sial2 Comments

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A conversation with and Dr. Juvaria Jafri and Dr. Aasim Sajjad.

is Professor of Political Economy at the National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-e-Azam University and a founder of the Awami Workers Party (AWP).听 His research has focused on state theory, informality, colonial history, rise of the middle classes and social movements in Pakistan. His latest book is 鈥�.

听 is a Lecturer in International Political Economy at City University. Her research is on financial development in Pakistan, including inclusive finance, fintech, and impact investing strategies. Her latest co-edited book is

Introduction

The full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on developing countries is still unfolding. While many countries have managed to achieve some stability in eliminating the spread of the crisis, others are struggling on various fronts. In South Asia, India has received much global attention owing to the violence of a hasty lockdown which was imposed without warning and an accompanying social safety net. Other countries in the region including Bangladesh, Srilanka and Nepal also continue to grapple with the existential question of how to ensure that contagion control does not come at the expense of destroying livelihoods.听

In this interview we focus on the situation in Pakistan. We invited Aasim Sajjad and Juvaria Jafri to address some questions related to the current situation in Pakistan. The following four questions were designed to provide a glimpse of how the pandemic is impacting the existing socio-economic structure of the Pakistani economy particularly focusing on class inequality, fin-tech as a potential solution and the activist and citizen-led first historic demand for a long-term welfare package.听

Read More »

Privatization and the Pandemic

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By Jacob Assa and Cecilia Calderon

Unlike other epidemics or pandemics 鈥� such as tuberculosis, SARS, MERS or HIV/AIDS 鈥� COVID-19 has hit hardest at the world鈥檚 wealthiest countries. As of early June 2020, the 37 industrialized countries of the OECD accounted for 59% of all cases and 78% of deaths, even though they constitute less than 18% of the total population affected.

Looking at the pandemic鈥檚 effects in another way 鈥� using cases and deaths per million population 鈥� paints an even starker picture. OECD countries have a prevalence ratio of 2,890 cases per million and a mortality rate of 225 per million, compared with 869 cases and 51 deaths per million in the rest of the world. Furthermore, the case fatality ratio (CFR) 鈥� the ratio of deaths to cases 鈥� is also higher in the OECD (7.8%) than in the rest of the world (5.9%).

What can explain this phenomenon, the world鈥檚 richest countries impacted more than middle-income and poor countries?听 One explanation is that COVID-19 spreads faster in countries that are more integrated to the globalized economy, as the OECD members certainly are. A recent found that globalized countries have indeed experienced more cases per population, but less mortality.Read More »

Addressing the Pandemic in the Philippines Necessitates a New Economic Paradigm

Bonn Juego21 Comments

Rodrigo_Duterte_delivers_his_message_to_the_Filipino_community_in_Vietnam_during_a_meeting_on_September_28In his late-night on 6 April, Rodrigo Duterte, the populist President of the Philippines, echoed the affirmation of leaders from rich countries in North America, Europe, and Asia: to do for the economy to survive the pandemic. The problem, however, is that, on his own admission, Duterte is incompetent in economics. His stubbornly is even more problematic when dealing with complex developmental causes and impacts of the coronavirus outbreak.

Yet the Philippine state鈥檚 inadequate institutional capacity to respond to the epidemic goes deeper. Given the national economy鈥檚 position in the hierarchical global economic system, its structural weaknesses impacts on how effective the government鈥檚 response can be. The current mainstream approaches to resolve the pandemic and the multiple crises of capitalism would fail to address the convoluted historical process of maldevelopment of the Philippines. Thus, a radical political strategy with a new economic paradigm for post-pandemic reconstruction is needed.听听听听Read More »

Pandemic Discourses – A Global Contagion Demands Global Perspectives

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By Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, , and

As the inaugural issue of goes online, 4.7 million cases of COVID-19 and nearly 320,000 deaths have been recorded by the World Health Organization. The waves of cases and deaths have been closely followed by mounting economic losses, leaving governments, communities, and individuals scrambling to find appropriate responses. Yet, even in this uniquely global moment, popular discourse around the pandemic has remained trapped within familiar terms.

Media coverage has to a large extent focused on experiences of the United States and Europe. The frameworks developed to respond to the pandemic have also been US/Euro-centric, frequently inward-looking and isolationist, paying scant attention to expertise, knowledge, and capacities elsewhere. The experiences of other parts of the world, even when taken into account, often serve to cement prior prejudices. In response to this lopsided discussion, Pandemic Discourses aims to foster a more expansive dialogue that encompasses voices from the global South, including China, India, and beyond.Read More »