Global Coronavirus Pandemic Crisis and Future Crisis Prevention

Abstract

This paper undertakes an interdisciplinary analysis of the global coronavirus crisis of 2020-21, its immediate aftermath and lessons learned, through the use of some core principles of institutional and evolutionary political economy. The principle of historical specificity and evolution (linked to uneven development) examines the background to the emergence of the crisis, plus its evolution and transformation through time. The principle of heterogeneous groups and agents scrutinizes the crisis through the various groups and individuals associated with gender, class, ethnicity, age and species. The principles of circular and cumulative causation (CCC) and contradiction investigate the multiple factors responsible for the crisis and how they interact in determining the depth and recovery from the crisis. The principle of uncertainty illustrates the changing expectations underlying the business climate and consumer confidence affecting socioeconomic performance, as well as current and future policies associated with health, regulation, budgets and money. A conclusion follows. 

Keywords: Coronavirus pandemic crisis, Principles, Political economy, Historical specificity, Heterogeneous groups and agents, Circular and cumulative causation, Contradiction, Uncertainty.

JEL: B52, E2, H0, I12, I18.