1- Tarbiat Modares University Tehran
2- Tarbiat Modares University Tehran ,s_dizaji@modares.ac.ir
2- Tarbiat Modares University Tehran ,
Abstract: (38 Views)
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that the severity and extent of the consequences of global health crises are influenced by economic, social, and institutional drivers, rather than being solely a function of the biological characteristics of the disease. Therefore, the present study aimed to identify and analyze the cross-country drivers affecting the consequences of COVID-19, with an emphasis on economic development, social inequality, and government policy rigidity. This study is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-correlational in terms of method. The data used were collected from reputable international databases for a set of countries and analyzed using panel data econometric models. The research variables included GDP per capita as a proxy for economic development, poverty as an indicator of social inequality, human development index, democracy index, and government policy rigidity index.
The findings of the study showed that the variables under study are significantly able to explain cross-country differences in the outcomes of COVID-19, but their effects differ in terms of intensity and direction. The results indicated that GDP per capita and poverty have a positive and significant effect on disease outcomes, while the government austerity index and the human development index showed a negative and significant effect on the severity of outcomes. Democracy also had a positive and significant effect on the outcomes of COVID-19, which could be due to the complexity of decision-making processes and delays in implementing urgent policies in some political systems.
Based on supplementary analyses, it was found that strict government policies played the strongest mitigating role in controlling the outcomes of the pandemic, while poverty was identified as the most important factor exacerbating health vulnerability at the cross-country level. Overall, the results show that the consequences of COVID-19 are the result of a complex interaction between the economic structure, the quality of governance, and the level of human development of countries, and cannot be attributed solely to a specific dimension.
These findings emphasize the need to adopt multidimensional approaches in managing public health crises and designing coordinated economic-social-institutional policies.
The findings of the study showed that the variables under study are significantly able to explain cross-country differences in the outcomes of COVID-19, but their effects differ in terms of intensity and direction. The results indicated that GDP per capita and poverty have a positive and significant effect on disease outcomes, while the government austerity index and the human development index showed a negative and significant effect on the severity of outcomes. Democracy also had a positive and significant effect on the outcomes of COVID-19, which could be due to the complexity of decision-making processes and delays in implementing urgent policies in some political systems.
Based on supplementary analyses, it was found that strict government policies played the strongest mitigating role in controlling the outcomes of the pandemic, while poverty was identified as the most important factor exacerbating health vulnerability at the cross-country level. Overall, the results show that the consequences of COVID-19 are the result of a complex interaction between the economic structure, the quality of governance, and the level of human development of countries, and cannot be attributed solely to a specific dimension.
These findings emphasize the need to adopt multidimensional approaches in managing public health crises and designing coordinated economic-social-institutional policies.
Keywords: Cross-border drivers, COVID-19, economic development, social inequality, government policy austerity, resilience, forward-looking governance
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