Think Tanks' reports on COVID-19
- 23 April 2020
- Think tank review
- gsclibrary
This is a non exhaustive collection of Think Tanks' reports on COVID 19 published in March and April which is regularly updated:
LUISS SCHOOL OF EUROPEAN POLITICAL ECONOMY
The current European debate on fiscal policy: too much and too little
This paper presents the response of the EU to the COVID-crisis from a fiscal point of view. It describes the ECB’s decision to launch new longer-term refinancing operations and targeted longer-term refinancing operations programs to ensure liquidity to the banking sector and to SMEs and to temporarily strengthen its ‘quantitative easing’ policy; it continues with Commission’s decision to suspend the Stability and Growth Pact and analyses the corona bonds.
THE LISBON COUNCIL
Whatever it takes, why urgent fiscal policy action is key to Eurozone success
In light of the recent COVID-19 outbreak and its impact on economic growth, Europe is faced with a clear and present danger of economic slowdown. But is it only COVID-19 that threatens the European economy? With central banks running low on ammunition, the author calls for a Copernican revolution in European policymaking. Fiscal policy must step up and do “whatever it takes.”
NOTRE EUROPE - INSTITUT JACQUES DELORS
The COVID-19 pandemic requires a strong and coordinated budgetary and monetary response from policy makers at all levels of government in Europe. Although the exact consequences of this crisis are currently very difficult to assess fully, it is of utmost importance that the EU member states and the European institutions commit to spending without limit (spending as much as necessary to resolve the crisis) and to ensuring the unconditional refinancing of this expenditure.
FUNDACION DE ESTUDIOS DE ECONOMIA APLICADA
La reacción de la Unión Europea ante el COVID-19
This report analyses the actions taken so far by the EU in relation to the coronavirus epidemic and its economic effects and reflects on the need to take additional measures to face a fundamental challenge for the European project. The economies of the euro countries are so interconnected that destabilizing one of them would have unaffordable effects on the others. This requires close cooperation between all of them to mitigate the effects of the crisis, jointly share its costs and facilitate a quick recovery.
DEUTSCHE GESELLSCHAFT FÜR AUSWÄRTIGE POLITIK (GERMAN COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS)
Coronavirus in the EU’S Eastern neighbourhood. Why Brussels needs to scale up its support
While the magnitude of the current pandemic is still unknown, Eastern Europe might be facing a major regional catastrophe. The six countries of the EU’s Eastern Partnership have dysfunctional health-care systems and lack resources and protective equipment for their doctors and hospitals. The Commission’s offer of immediate assistance is good news. However, much more will be needed to help the EU’s eastern partners fight the coronavirus and mitigate the socioeconomic impact of this crisis.
DEUTSCHE GESELLSCHAFT FÜR AUSWÄRTIGE POLITIK (GERMAN COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS)
Deterrence and defence in times of COVID-19. Europe’s political choices
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Europe is headed for a recession that will dwarf the economic downturn after the 2008 financial crisis. The impact on national defence sectors could be devastating. But as crisis and responses are still in the early stage, governments can still take measures to mitigate the effect on defence. To safeguard political and defence priorities, EU and NATO states need to act jointly and decisively.
ÖSTERREICHISCHE INSTITUT FÜR INTERNATIONALE POLITIK (AUSTRIAN INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS)
Europäische Entfremdungsprozesse und ihre Dynamik in Südosteuropa in Zeiten der Corona-Krise
The fight against the virus triggered national and nationalist reflexes and revealed weaknesses in the EU's ability to act in foreign policy. This analysis places the latest developments in the time of the corona crisis in the context of the longer-term structural development of the region and EU integration in Southeast Europe. The corona crisis poses an increased risk of further alienation between the EU and Southeast Europe, but could, in a positive scenario, lead to a revitalization of this relationship.
INSTITUT MONTAIGNE
Covid-19 : l’Asie orientale face à la pandémie
This report provides a detailed overview of the public policy tools that China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan have used to fight the pandemic
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR DEMOCRACY AND ELECTORAL ASSISTANCE
Managing elections under the COVID-19 pandemic: the Republic of Korea’s crucial test
COVID-19 pandemic has placed unprecedented pressure on countries and states as to whether to hold or postpone scheduled elections, amid controversies in either case. Should the fulfilment of the social contract between a government and its citizens come at the expense of endangering their health and lives? Or should concerns of exacerbating the outbreak as a result of the mass gatherings inherent to the societal ritual of voting, prevail over other considerations?
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT THINK TANK
Regular update on EUEA level to mitigate the economic and social effects of coronavirus
This document compiles information, obtained from public sources, on the measures proposed and taken at the EU or euro area level to mitigate the economic and social effects of Covid19.
DEUTSCHE GESELLSCHAFT FÜR AUSWÄRTIGE POLITIK (GERMAN COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS)
Time for a corona fund. How a coalition of willing member states can shore up the EU economy
While the ECB has already taken bold steps, the EU member states need to support its efforts by committing to underwrite together some of the fiscal costs of the COVID-19 pandemic. The best option would be to launch a corona fund with the power to mobilize 1 trillion EUR; support for such a fund need not be unanimous.
BERTELSMANN STIFTUNG / HERTIE SCHOOL/JACQUES DELORS CENTRE
Flattening the recession curve comparing initial fiscal responses to the corona crisis across the EU
While the ongoing pandemic affects all European economies, this report shows that it is likely to cause much more economic damage in some member states than in others. If anything, countries which are likely to be especially vulnerable are currently committing fewer fiscal resources to fighting the economic fallout than others. A joint European policy response to share the fiscal burden of this crisis is, therefore, urgently needed.
ÖSTERREICHISCHE GESELLSCHAFT FÜR EUROPAPOLITIK (AUSTRIAN SOCIETY FOR EUROPEAN POLITICS)
EU-Wirtschaftspolitik in Zeiten der Coronakrise
The corona crisis presents for Europe huge challenges, both medically and economically. In terms of economic policy, it comes in addition to a crisis in the financial markets and the global upheavals caused by the oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. The ECB has put together a large aid package. The Commission has temporarily suspended a large number of regulatory obstacles and has realigned some of its budget funds to strengthen small and medium-sized enterprises.
ISTITUTO AFFARI INTERNAZIONALI (IAI)
International order and the European project in times of COVID19
The international liberal order, as well as the EU within it, has been in trouble for years now. The EU, for its part, has been shaken by the successive Eurozone and migration crises, while its surrounding regions were spiralling into conflict and outright collapse. COVID19 could be the final nail in the coffin of a rules-based international order and the European project within it. But it could also give birth to a new phoenix rising from its ashes.
INSTITUTO ESPANOL DE ESTUDIOS ESTRATEGICOS
Emergencias pandémicas en un mundo globalizado: amenazas a la seguridad
At present there are a number of factors that have triggered alarms about the increased possibility of a local outbreak becoming a global pandemic. Each new outbreak has the potential to have geopolitical consequences, altering trade and economic productivity at the national, regional and international levels. The severity of these impacts depends on the country’s connection with the rest of the world, on the mortality of the outbreak and on its form of propagation.
TERRA NOVA
Le tissu industriel français face au Covid-19: “stop and go ?” Ou “stop and die?”
The French industrial sector was weakened even before the exponential growth of the Covid-19 in Europe. Faced with chains of 'supply more and more exposed to China, certain sectors were consequently from the beginning of March, in a situation of virtual supply shortage. The gradual disintegration of supply chains and the difficult adaptation of production units to a situation of health crisis, led the French industrial sector to a un quasi-halt.
EUROPEAN POLICY CENTRE
COVID-19: a turning point for the EU?
Herman Van Rompuy looks at the impact of COVID-19, and the quarantine measures many governments have subsequently taken to stop its spread, on our economy and societies, on the fate of multilateralism, and the fight against inequality and global warming. He finds a hopeful development in the Eurogroup compromise but argues that it is just a first step. He also warns of the ghosts of crises past.
HERTIE SCHOOL/JACQUES DELORS CENTRE
Sharing the fiscal burden of the crisis: a pandemic solidarity instrument for the EU
The debate over how Europe should cope with the fiscal costs of the COVID-19 pandemic is in full swing. All countries have a vital interest in all other countries being able to spend as much as necessary to fight the economic fallout of the pandemic. This paper proposes a “pandemic solidarity instrument” that is tailored specifically to this crisis to deliver the burden sharing.
HERTIE SCHOOL / JACQUES DELORS CENTRE
Flattening the recession curve, comparing initial fiscal responses to the corona crisis across the EU
The Covid-19 crisis will bring massive economic costs for all countries in the EU. As member states shut down large parts of their civil and business life, they have also put in train fiscal policies to fund public health measures and mitigate the economic damage of the seizure in much economic activity. This paper analyses to what extent these costs are likely to differ across member states and how governments are trying to mitigate them.
EUROPEAN POLICY CENTRE
COVID-19: lessons from the ‘euro crisis’
As the EU – and the world beyond – continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, the report looks back at a previous time of intense pressure and discord in the Union, the euro crisis, to glean valuable lessons and traps to avoid. It argues that the EU cannot afford to stall the process of unconditional solidarity any further. The legitimacy of the Union is at stake.
Център за изследване на демокрацията (Center for the Study of Democracy)
Coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak in the EU fundamental rights implications
Part of a project of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), this study analyses the measures taken by the Bulgarian public authorities, their impact on national or ethnic communities and on privacy and disinformation.
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Motivating social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic: an online experiment
“Social distancing” has the potential to save millions of lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper describes a pre-registered experiment to test potential communication strategies to encourage compliance with social distancing. This research tested communication strategies to promote social distancing via an online experiment. The findings suggest that the thought of infecting vulnerable people or large numbers of people can motivate social distancing.
PETERSON INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
How the G20 can hasten recovery from COVID-19?
The global financial crisis of 2008–10 brought the Group of Twenty (G20) into being. Nearly 12 years later international cooperation is a recurrent need. The G20 must rise urgently to the challenge as it did in the last global crisis, but even more forcefully with more lasting commitment. This briefing sets out ten policy areas where practical near-zero cost collective actions can meaningfully speed the return of global health, physical as well as economic.
FONDATION ROBERT SCHUMAN
The European Union and the coronavirus
Europeans have lost the habit of dealing with deadly epidemics. Until the 18th century, the continent had three epidemics per century. Even if, with regard to emerging infections, 90% of the bacteria and viruses identified were not known thirty years ago (Ebola, SARS, H5N1, etc.), the omnipotence of medicine reassured us. The coronavirus has shown the fragility of our societies. We will have to wait a few months to draw conclusions about this health crisis with so many forgotten precedents.
FONDATION ROBERT SCHUMAN
Half of humanity being confined, summoned to remain locked up and the fear of a dazzlingly contagious virus create an unprecedented situation, which already arouses many comments. It is very difficult to imagine all the consequences of this health crisis and one another’s predictions may once again be proved wrong. On the other hand, it is permissible to think about what is happening in our societies and on the international scene and about what already seems to have changed in our countries and for Europe.
INSTITUT FRANÇAIS DES RELATIONS INTERNATIONALES
L'Europe face à la rivalité sino-américaine : le coronavirus comme catalyseur
The coronavirus pandemic acts as a dual catalyst. Visibly, it is testing the resilience of the EU and its members, torn between China from where the virus originated and the US where it is arriving. Invisibly, there is a profound redistribution of power not only between the US, China and the EU, but also between national states and major digital platforms. Who of the first or the latter are today, will be tomorrow, the main organizers of our lives? The Chinese party-state and/or Amazon? National authorities and/or individual solidarity?
INSTITUT DER DEUTSCHEN WIRTSCHAFT (IW, KÖLN) "GERMAN ECONOMIC INSTITUTE (IW)"
Wirtschaftspolitische Antworten auf die Corona-Krise: Liquidität hat Vorrang!
The corona crisis is a global challenge. The COVID-19 spread represents both a negative demand shock and a negative supply shock from an overall economic perspective. There are noticeable export shortfalls to China and other affected economies.
INSTITUT DER DEUTSCHEN WIRTSCHAFT (IW, KÖLN) "GERMAN ECONOMIC INSTITUTE (IW)"
Ein Überblick über aktuelle Konjunkturstudien zur Corona-Krise
The following article briefly lists and comments on some of the current economic studies on the corona crisis. The focus is on the one hand on the global economy and on the other hand on the German economy. The review of the studies was completed on March 23, 2020.
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
Emerging priorities and principles for managing the global economic impact of COVID-19
Governments and central banks in the economies most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic have rapidly mobilized to keep their economies on “life support” while societies fight the most dramatic health crisis of our time. Where is the economy heading in the current situation? How effective are the policy responses being deployed? What priorities and principles should guide actions by public and private sector leaders in response to the unfolding economic crisis?
INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP
Virus fears spread at camps for ISIS families in Syria’s north east
Disease has long been a daily concern at al-Hol, a detention camp in north-eastern Syria for families of ISIS militants, but now each death raises anxiety about COVID-19. With repatriations on hold, the UN and other international bodies must step up medical and humanitarian aid.
BRUEGEL
The COVID-19 pandemic represents a major shock to the global and European economy. The economic consequences of quarantine and lock-down measures are major, and are felt through both supply and demand-side channels. A coordinated and bold response by authorities is necessary.
INSTITUT FÜR WELTWIRTSCHAFT KIEL (KIEL INSTITUTE FOR THE WORLD ECONOMY)
European Community bonds since the oil crisis: lessons for today?
Since the 1970s, European countries have repeatedly issued community bonds on the private capital market. The bonds were guaranteed by the member states and distributed to countries in crisis. Coronabonds, as currently discussed, would therefore be part of a long tradition of European solidarity and liability. Community bonds have proved their worth in past crises and have always been fully repaid.
FRIEDRICH-EBERT STIFTUNG (FRIEDRICH EBERT FOUNDATION)
Eurobonds and European citizenship
The coronavirus pandemic will have a powerfully negative impact on the EU’s economies. The exact scale of this impact will certainly depend on how long it lasts, together with the consequent restrictions on productive activities and mobility that the various European countries are adopting. We have weeks, not months. It is crucial that a decision be made by Easter.
HERTIE SCHOOL/JACQUES DELORS CENTRE/BERTELSMANN STIFTUNG
Legal, compliant and suitable: the ECB‘s pandemic emergency purchase programme
The ECB has announced a 750-billion-euro purchase programme to fight the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. But like all ECB programmes in recent years, the new pandemic emergency purchase programme (PEPP) will likely be challenged in court. The PEPP is compatible with the three criteria the EU Court of Justice has established to check the legality of monetary policy measures: the PEPP falls within the ECB’s mandate; it respects the principle of proportionality; and it does not violate the prohibition of monetary financing.
ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚO ΊΔΡΥΜΑ ΕΥΡΩΠΑΪΚHΣ ΚΑΙ ΕΞΩΤΕΡΙΚHΣ ΠΟΛΙΤΙΚHΣ (HELLENIC FOUNDATION FOR EUROPEAN FOREIGN POLICY)
COVID-19: EΜU’s new fiscal challenge
The coronavirus pandemic is an unprecedented health crisis with tragic humanitarian consequences. Effective tackling of the pandemic, in both health and economic terms, requires an ambitious fiscal approach. Such an undertaking is a challenge, whose scale is magnified for the EMU, which experienced a deep economic crisis in recent years.
DEUTSCHE GESELLSCHAFT FÜR AUSWÄRTIGE POLITIK (GERMAN COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS)
The coronavirus pandemic, and the resulting severe economic disruptions, can only be effectively tackled with a European and global response. The degree of integration and interdependence between member states – economically, politically and socially – means that in dealing with the virus and its economic effects, the EU is only as strong as its weakest part. Hesitation and the failure to tackle the problem collectively will increase the losses – in terms of lives, economic wellbeing, political stability and EU unity.
CENTRE FOR EUROPEAN POLICY STUDIES
Monitoring Covid-19 contagion growth in Europe
This study presents an econometric model which can be employed to monitor the evolution of the COVID-19 contagion curve. The model is a Poisson autoregression of the daily new observed cases, and can dynamically show the evolution of contagion in different time periods and locations. Its presents results for nine European countries currently hit by the virus.
KONRAD-ADENAUER-STIFTUNG
Germany and Europe are facing unforeseen economic and sociopolitical challenges because the so-called Corona Virus (SARSCoV-2) has spread from China within a very short time and causes considerable disruptions in practically all economies around the world. The effect of this external and unpredictable shock is far more serious than the banking and financial crisis twelve years ago.
CENTRE FOR EUROPEAN POLICY STUDIES
The European Green Deal after Corona: implications for EU climate policy
Climate change policy cannot be the first priority of the EU for the immediate future. However, in spite of the corona-crisis the urgency of climate change mitigation has not disappeared. It will be important to ensure that recovery measures are compatible with global climate change and European Green Deal priorities so that stimulus money will flow to economic activities that have a place in a climate-neutral world.
CENTRE FOR EUROPEAN POLICY STUDIES
Chronicle of a pandemic foretold
In just a few weeks, COVID-19 appeared in China and quickly spread to the rest of the world, including Europe and the US. Many have rushed to describe the outbreak as a ‘black swan’ – an unpredictable event with extremely severe consequences. This brief explores ways to pursue enhanced resilience and responsiveness, and examines their compatibility with sustainability and democratic values.
ULKOPOLIITTINEN INSTITUUTTI (FINNISH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS)
Since late 2019, the world has sought to appropriate policies for responding to the Covid-19 pandemic. This paper reviews the political significance of Covid-19 in order to understand the ways in which it challenges the existing domestic order, international health governance actors and, more fundamentally, the circulation-based modus operandi of the present world order.
INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP
COVID-19 and conflict: seven trends to watch
Deadly and disruptive as it already is, and terribly as it could yet worsen and spread, the 2020 coronavirus outbreak could also have political effects that last long after the contagion is contained. This report identifies seven points of particular concern.
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
Workforce principles for the COVID-19 pandemic: stakeholder capitalism in a time of crisis
While there currently is a significant focus on the public health and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the workforce and societal implications are no less profound. The guiding principles and the four workforce management imperatives outlined in this document are a preliminary response to the unfolding crisis.
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR DEMOCRACY AND ELECTORAL ASSISTANCE
The spread of communicable diseases such as COVID-19, and the measures to contain the virus imposed by governments and state agencies, have both constitutional and technical implications for the timing and administration of elections.
KONRAD-ADENAUER-STIFTUNG
Corona-Krise. Der deutsche Blick auf Asien
This publication gives insight into how the region is dealing with the Corona crisis. The experience with pandemics helps to cope. At the moment, many eyes are on Asia. This has to do with dealing with the corona crisis, but not only. Many observers had already seen Asia and especially the People's Republic of China in the fast lane.
The publications mentioned in this post do not necessarily represent the positions, policies, or opinions of the Council of the European Union or the European Council.
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