Economic freedom, pandemics, and robust political economy

What is the relationship, if any, between economic freedom and pandemics? This paper addresses this question from a robust political economy approach. As is the case with recovery from natural disasters or warfare, a society that is relatively free economically offers economic actors greater flexibi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Southern Economic Journal 2021-04, Vol.87 (4), p.1250-1266
Main Authors: Candela, Rosolino A., Geloso, Vincent
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
20th century
Disaster management
economic freedom
Economic recovery
Flexibility
Free will
Freedoms
Influenza
Natural disasters
Pandemics
Political economy
robust political economy
Symposium
Symposium: The Political Economy of the COVID‐19 Pandemic
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Summary:What is the relationship, if any, between economic freedom and pandemics? This paper addresses this question from a robust political economy approach. As is the case with recovery from natural disasters or warfare, a society that is relatively free economically offers economic actors greater flexibility to adapt to pandemics. We argue that societies that are more economically free will be more robust to the impact from pandemics, illustrated by shorter time for economic recovery. We illustrate this relationship by testing how initial levels of economic freedom (at the start of the major influenza pandemics of the 20th century) temper contractions and accelerate recoveries for 20 OECD countries.
ISSN:0038-4038
2325-8012
DOI:10.1002/soej.12489