Social stability challenged by Covid-19: Pandemics,inequality and policy responses

Perugini, Cristiano and Vladisavljević, Marko (2021) Social stability challenged by Covid-19: Pandemics,inequality and policy responses. Journal of policy modeling: a social science forum of world issues, 43. pp. 146-160. ISSN 0161-8938

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Abstract

The public health measures implemented to limit the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to affect economicinequalities. In this paper we first provide a theoretical framework to analyse how income inequality con-tributes shaping the trade-off between economic lockdown and contagion. Our empirical analysis on EUcountries shows that the lockdown is likely to significantly increase inequality and poverty and that the mag-nitude of the change is larger in more unequal countries. To avoid social collapse, countries must considerinequality as an additional source of fragility, while supranational, coordinated health and fiscal policies areneeded in the interest of all European economies.

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