The COVID Crisis and a New Industrial Strategy for Europe

Abstract

This chapter has aimed to indicate some new important emerging policy problems, which have characterised the Covid crisis in the European economy during 2020 and then the bounce-back in 2021. The chapter has illustrated an economic theoretical framework focussed on innovation and structural changes, according to a Schumpeterian and evolutionary or neo-institutional approach, which seems more appropriate than the traditional neoclassical and macroeconomic models, as the basis for a ‘new industrial strategy’ in the European Union. The mainstream economic models are static and point-like, as they do not consider the role of time and of space, such as the existence of asymmetric information and external economies and also the interdependence between the companies and the other ‘stakeholders’ in the process of economic development. On the contrary, the theoretical framework of this chapter considers the factors that act on the structural changes according to four different and interdependent dimensions: the final demand, the intermediate productions and also the supply of labour and the endowment of natural resources. Finally, some preliminary indications on the organisation of a new industrial strategy at the European scale are discussed, different from the focus on just the digital and green technologies, as indicated by the NGEU program by the European Commission.

Citation

Cappellin, R. (2023), "The COVID Crisis and a New Industrial Strategy for Europe", Chatterji, M., Luterbacher, U., Fert, V. and Chen, B. (Ed.) Globalisation and COVID-19 (Contributions to Conflict Management, Peace Economics and Development, Vol. 31), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 83-106. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1572-832320230000031005