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Article
Publication date: 7 July 2023

Imalka Wasana Rathnayaka, Rasheda Khanam and Mohammad Mafizur Rahman

This study aims to explore the efficacy of government policy directions in mitigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by employing a panel of 22 countries throughout the…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore the efficacy of government policy directions in mitigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by employing a panel of 22 countries throughout the 2020-second quarter of 2022.

Design/methodology/approach

The panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model is employed to examine this phenomenon and to investigate the long-run effects of government policy decisions on infection and mortality rates from the pandemic.

Findings

The study reveals the following key findings: (1) Income support and debt relief facilities and stringent standards of governments are associated with reduced infection and death rates. (2) The response of governments has resulted in decreased mortality rates while simultaneously leading to an unexpected increase in infection rates. (3) Containment and healthcare practices have led to a decrease in infection rates but an increase in mortality rates, presenting another counterintuitive outcome. Despite the expectation that robust government responses would decrease infection rates and that healthcare containment practices would reduce mortality, these results highlight a lack of health equity and the challenge of achieving high vaccination rates across countries.

Research limitations/implications

To effectively combat the spread of COVID-19, it is crucial to implement containment health practices in conjunction with tracing and individual-level quarantine. Simply implementing containment health measures without these interconnected strategies would be ineffective. Therefore, policy implications derived from containment health measures should be accompanied by targeted, aggressive, and rapid containment strategies aimed at significantly reducing the number of individuals infected with COVID-19.

Practical implications

This study concludes by suggesting the importance of implementing economic support in terms of income, and debt relief has played a crucial role in mitigating the spread of COVID-19 infections and reducing fatality rates.

Social implications

To effectively combat the spread of COVID-19, it is crucial to implement containment health practices in conjunction with tracing and individual-level quarantine. Simply implementing containment health measures without these interconnected strategies would be ineffective. Therefore, policy implications derived from containment health measures should be accompanied by targeted, aggressive, and rapid containment strategies aimed at significantly reducing the number of individuals infected with COVID-19.

Originality/value

This research makes a unique contribution to the existing literature by investigating the impact of government responses on reducing COVID-19 infections and fatalities, specifically focusing on the period before COVID-19 vaccinations became available.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 44 no. 1/2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 December 2022

Ruifeng Wang, Martin Dresner and Xiaodan Pan

The study focuses on (1) the success of three strategies employed during the pandemic – two “persevering” strategies, curbside pickup and return window extension and one…

Abstract

Purpose

The study focuses on (1) the success of three strategies employed during the pandemic – two “persevering” strategies, curbside pickup and return window extension and one innovative strategy, virtual try-on technology and (2) whether the strategies are likely to be successful in the post-pandemic world.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors utilize a panel dataset containing 17 department store chains in the US The panel includes weekly sales by the retailers at the city level from 2018 to 2021, encompassing both a pre-COVID-19 period and a period during the pandemic. A two-way fixed effects model, including retailer-city fixed effects and year-week fixed effects, is used to estimate department store sales.

Findings

The authors find that the two persevering strategies offset the negative impact of government-imposed containment and health measures on sales performance. On the other hand, the innovative strategy is more effective with a low level of containment and health measures, leading to our observation that virtual try-on may be more sustainable than the other two strategies in a post-pandemic environment.

Originality/value

This paper makes the following contributions: First, the authors contribute to the literature on strategies that may be used to respond to crises. Second, the authors contribute to the retail management literature, assessing the impact of the three retail strategies on department store sales. Finally, the authors compare the impact on sales of the two persevering strategies to the innovative strategy and conclude that a mix of these types of strategies may be most effective at generating short-term sales during a crisis and longer-term sales post crisis.

Details

International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, vol. 53 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0960-0035

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 November 2022

Souhaila Kammoun and Youssra Ben Romdhane

The purpose of this paper is twofold. Firstly, the paper aims to determine the separate effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and government actions represented by the index of…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is twofold. Firstly, the paper aims to determine the separate effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and government actions represented by the index of stringency, containment and economic support on the attractiveness of foreign direct investment (FDI). Secondly, the paper aims to explore the impact of the interactions between the COVID-19 epidemic and government interventions on FDI.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses a panel data set of 30 Asian countries during the two pandemic years 2020 and 2021 to investigate the effect of government actions on the resilience of FDI attractiveness factors.

Findings

The empirical results reveal the negative effect of COVID-19 on FDI inflows and attractiveness factors. However, government responses have a positive and statistically significant effect on the FDI attractiveness factors such as economic growth, trade openness and human and technological capital development and contribute to the economic recovery of the Asian region.

Practical implications

The empirical findings can provide useful information for policymakers in designing macroeconomic policies and taking government measures to improve their investment environment and attract FDI.

Originality/value

The study shows that government responses, economic support, containment and health policies are effective in containing viruses, reducing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthening resilience in FDI attractiveness factors. It also indicates that foreign investors are responding positively to government measures.

Details

Journal of Economic and Administrative Sciences, vol. 40 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1026-4116

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 July 2021

Hafiz Syed Mohsin Abbas, Xiaodong Xu and Chunxia Sun

COVID-19 (C19) has been destroying the world's health and emergency response system for almost the past year. Policymakers and health practitioners are trying their best to save…

Abstract

Purpose

COVID-19 (C19) has been destroying the world's health and emergency response system for almost the past year. Policymakers and health practitioners are trying their best to save the public through various policy development and initiatives in this regard. This study aims to examine the containment measures and their impacts on Australia's C19 situation in Australia's COVIDsafe app background.

Design/methodology/approach

This study investigates the role of the Australian Government's (AG) Health Containment (HC) and Stringency response (SR) in combating the C19 situation in Australia. The time horizon has been taken from January to October 2020 and applied Linear Regression with graphical demonstration analysis by STATA-18 version and MS Word chart features.

Findings

By applying linear regression and graphical demonstration, statistics revealed that AG made various policy developments during the C19 pandemic. However, due to inconsistent and unsustainable measures, the second C19 wave hit Australia much harder than the first wave. COVIDsafe app has been a vital AG in this regard; however, it did not show its progress during the second wave due to privacy issues. After the more focused and aggressive research and development measures, AG overcame the App drawbacks and controlled the situation, demonstrating 92% recovered statistics from C19.

Practical implications

The study concludes that AG should enforce many prudent policy measures and distinct E-government features in the COVIDsafe app and make it secure so people will use it in probable forthcoming C19 waves.

Originality/value

This study has examined the Government of Australia's containment measures in the background discussion of the COVIDsafe app.

Details

Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, vol. 15 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6166

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 September 2022

Bisharat Hussain Chang, Raheel Gohar, Omer Faruk Derindag and Emmanuel Uche

This research examines the impact of lockdown stringency measures and COVID-19 cases on food and healthcare prices in six Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa and Turkey…

Abstract

Purpose

This research examines the impact of lockdown stringency measures and COVID-19 cases on food and healthcare prices in six Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa and Turkey (BRICST) countries. This research is conducted in these countries since previous studies failed to examine the effect of COVID-19 reported cases on food and healthcare prices.

Design/methodology/approach

To achieve the objectives of this study, food and healthcare services were regressed against CVC and lockdown stringency measures using the dynamic autoregressive distributed lag (DARDL) model. For this purpose, we used daily data for BRICST countries such as Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa and Turkey.

Findings

The empirical evidence indicates that, in the long run, COVID-19 cases significantly and positively affect both food and healthcare prices in India, South Africa and China. In contrast, in the short run, COVID-19 positively affects food and healthcare prices in all countries except Russia and Turkey. Similarly, in the long run, the government stringency index (GSI) and Containment and Health Index (CHI) significantly affect health prices in India and South Africa. In contrast, GSI and CHI significantly affect healthcare prices in South Africa only in the short run. Finally, GSI and CHI significantly affect the food prices in the long run in India, South Africa and China and in the short run in South Africa only.

Originality/value

The widespread impact of the new Coronavirus (COVID-19) has made the world panic. COVID-19 affected all spheres of life, including food supplies and healthcare services. However, most of the empirical research failed to examine the impact of COVID-19 cases on food and healthcare prices which is the main focus of this study. Moreover, in the given context, the authors use a recently developed model that the previous studies failed to use.

Details

Journal of Economic Studies, vol. 50 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3585

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 18 July 2023

Vahid Pourshahabi

The purpose of this paper is to compare the performance of Iran and G7 countries in the management of the COVID-19 crisis.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to compare the performance of Iran and G7 countries in the management of the COVID-19 crisis.

Design/methodology/approach

The indicators and statistics provided by the Oxford Government Response Tracker are used in this research. Sixteen indicators and their related items have been analyzed for eight countries including Iran, Canada, Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, and the United States. For data analysis, Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and Tukey’s post hoc test were applied, and structural equation modeling performed with the help of SPSS and Smart-PLS software.

Findings

The results show that 8 indicators of closing schools, cancellation of public events, restriction of gatherings, restriction of domestic travel, restriction of international travel, reduction of household debt, testing policy, and contact tracing, have an effect on the number of deaths in the countries under review. The results also showed that the countries exhibit behaviors outside their normal culture during the crisis.

Originality/value

This paper will be helpful for scholars, as well as policymakers when making policies on the appropriate responses to COVID-19 and similar pandemics.

Details

Public Administration and Policy, vol. 26 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1727-2645

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 18 July 2022

Wassim Ben Ayed

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of government policies adopted by the Tunisian government to cope with the COVID-19 sanitary crisis on stock market return.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of government policies adopted by the Tunisian government to cope with the COVID-19 sanitary crisis on stock market return.

Design/methodology/approach

The author uses daily data from March 2, 2020, to July 23, 2021.

Findings

The author finds that policies interventions have a negative impact on Tunisia's stock market, particularly stock market returns due to stringency, confinement and health measures. Also, Government announcements regarding economic has a negative impact on Tunisia's stock market but this impact is insignificant. By conducting an additional analysis, the author shows that the government interventions policies amplify the negative effect of COVID-19 on stock returns.

Research limitations/implications

These results will be useful for policy authorities seeking to consider the advantages and drawbacks of government measures. Finally, a legislative proposal about the audit of public debt should be included in the Constitution to spur Tunisia's economic and social recovery.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the related literature in two ways: First, it is the first study to examine the impact of government actions on stock market performance. Second, it bridges a gap in the literature by investigating the case of Tunisia, because most studies focus on developed and emerging economies.

Details

Journal of Business and Socio-economic Development, vol. 4 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2635-1374

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 August 2022

Chung Van Dong and Hoan Quang Truong

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has been negatively affecting international trade between countries; however, there is a lack of empirical studies on developing…

Abstract

Purpose

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has been negatively affecting international trade between countries; however, there is a lack of empirical studies on developing countries such as Vietnam. This article aims to investigate how the COVID-19 cases and related deaths and policy response by Vietnam and trading partners to the pandemic affect Vietnam's export activities.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use the monthly trade data from the General Department of Vietnam Customs and employ the Poisson pseudo-maximum-likelihood (PPML) estimator to empirically investigate the effects of COVID-19 and policy response to the pandemic on Vietnam's exports at aggregate and sectoral levels over a 33-month period.

Findings

In the first year of the pandemic (January–December 2020) as well as the whole study period (January 2019–September 2021), trading partners' COVID-19 burden adversely affected Vietnam's aggregate exports, and the effect of COVID-19 deaths is significantly larger than that of COVID-19 cases. In the first year of the pandemic, estimates show a negative effect of Vietnam's COVID-19 cases on its exports, while no evidence reveals the impact of Vietnam's COVID-19 deaths. However, during the entire study period, there are remarkable adverse effects of Vietnam's COVID-19 deaths on its exports. The effect of the COVID-19 burden in Vietnam and in its trading partners differs significantly across major subsectors. In the first year, there is a positive role of government response to the pandemic by Vietnam and its trading partners in Vietnam's aggregate exports, while in the whole study period, only a positive effect of Vietnam's government response is found. Economic support and free trade agreements (FTAs) have a positive effect on Vietnam's exports. In the first year of the pandemic, Vietnam's export losses due to COVID-19 outweighed its export gains from the pandemic. However, Vietnam's exports have significantly improved over the nine months of 2021.

Research limitations/implications

Efforts should aim to reduce the number of COVID-19 deaths rather than focus on reducing the number of COVID-19 cases. The application of stringency measures by both exporters and importers should be minimized, or at least those measures need to be combined with health methods, such as testing policy and contact tracing, short-term investment in healthcare and especially investments in vaccines. In addition, economic support, particularly debt relief, needs to be widely applied to assist firms, especially those involved in international trade. The expansion of FTA networks and diversifying export destinations may be helpful in maintaining production networks and export activities.

Practical implications

In the long-term period, the application of stringency measures by both exporters and importers should be minimized, or at least those measures need to be combined with health methods such as testing policy and contact tracing, short-term investment in healthcare and especially investments in vaccines. In addition, economic assistance, particularly debt relief, needs to be widely applied to assist firms, especially those involved in international trade activities.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the paper is among the first studies empirically investigating the impacts of COVID-19 and policy response to the pandemic on aggregate and sectoral exports from Vietnam. The paper also measures the absolute value of export gain and export loss due to the pandemic between Vietnam and trading countries.

Details

International Journal of Emerging Markets, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-8809

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 3 September 2021

Pedro Manuel Nogueira Reis and Carlos Pinho

Purpose: This work provides an empirical analysis of investor behaviour's simultaneous influence due to the surprise effect caused by COVID-19 cases and government responses to…

Abstract

Purpose: This work provides an empirical analysis of investor behaviour's simultaneous influence due to the surprise effect caused by COVID-19 cases and government responses to market risk. This analysis compares tourism assets risk with other sectors and different types of investors' assets and categories in Europe.

Design: The paper applies an ARIMA with a GARCH model to predict conditional volatility of models for market uncertainty. Nonlinear models, factor analysis and time series linear regression for stationary variables in first differences are applied to predict market uncertainty.

Findings: We demonstrate that market risk does not arise from COVID-19 cases but instead from the surprise effect, as the market accurately predicts future cases. Only the volatility of the sectors Travel, Airline, and Utility are influenced by both surprise effect and government response, but only the travel sector reveals an interaction effect with both government response effort and surprise effect.

Originality: The article mutually studies the simultaneous interactions among investor behaviour due to the surprised effect caused by COVID-19 and government responses to the pandemic and the influence on professional investors' volatility in two asset types and between different sectors.

Practical implications: With this model and results, investors and financial service providers may verify whether or not government intervention during pandemic periods is effective in reducing uncertainty and risk levels on sectors, types of investors and different sorts of assets.

Details

Pandemics and Travel
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80071-071-9

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 June 2021

Garima Goel and Saumya Ranjan Dash

This paper aims to investigate the moderating role of government policy interventions amid the early spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) (January–May 2020) on the investor…

1141

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the moderating role of government policy interventions amid the early spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) (January–May 2020) on the investor sentiment and stock returns relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses panel data from a sample of 53 countries to examine the impact of investor sentiment, measured by the financial and economic attitudes revealed by the search (FEARS) index (Da et al., 2015) on the stock return.

Findings

The moderating role of government policy response indices with the FEARS index on the global stock returns is further explored. This paper finds that government policy responses have a moderating role in the sentiment and stock returns relationship. The effect holds true even when countries are split based on five classifications, i.e. cultural distance, health standard, government effectiveness, social well-being and financial development. The results are robust to an alternative measure of pandemic search intensity, quantile regression and two measures of stock market activity, i.e. conditional volatility and exchange traded fund returns.

Research limitations/implications

The sample period of this study encompasses the early spread phase (January–May 2020) of the novel COVID-19 spread.

Originality/value

This paper provides some early evidence on whether the government policy interventions are helpful to mitigate the impact of investor sentiment on the stock market. The paper also helps to shed better insights on the role of different country characteristics for the sentiment and stock return relationship.

Details

Journal of Financial Economic Policy, vol. 14 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-6385

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 1000