Abstract
We use the information compiled as of 15 June 2020 by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in the ADB COVID-19 Policy Database to analyze the measures taken by its 68 members, plus the European Central Bank, and the European Union, to combat the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Measures associated with monetary policy amount to $14.9 trillion ($1.4 trillion by ADB’s developing members), while the measures associated with fiscal policy amount to $7.1 trillion ($1.5 trillion by ADB’s developing members). We discuss the specifics of five countries—identifying similarities and differences. Analysis shows that some countries implemented actions which do not translate easily into monetary amounts for reporting. We show that the total package per capita is directly related to gross domestic product per capita with a high elasticity of 1.61; and so is the package on government support to income and revenue (a subset of the total package), with an elasticity of 1.49. We develop a series of models to understand why rich economies spend significantly more per capita. Results indicate that the package per capita is positively related to the COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 population as of 15 June 2020, population of at least 65 years old as percent of total population, and wage and salaried workers as percent of total employment; and inversely related to self-employed as percent of total employment, and vulnerable employment as percent of total employment. We use this information to compare actual to expected packages.
Highlights
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic that shocked the world economy in 2020 has already infected over 18 million people worldwide, caused over 700 thousand deaths, and affected the lives of countless others.This paper uses the COVID-19 Policy Database of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to study the measures that its 68 members, as well as the European Central Bank (ECB), and the European Union (EU), have implemented to combat the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
The specific objectives of this paper are to: (i) take stock of how packages have changed since April 2020; (ii) understand the measures that ADB members have implemented; (iii) analyze whether the measures were adequate to deal with the shock phase; and (iv) understand differences in the size of the packages, when measured in per capita terms or as percentage of gross domestic product (GDP)
We note the rather high elasticities of population of at least 65 years old as percent of total population in Tables 8, A2, A4, and A5. These six tables indicate that the best results in terms of regression fit are those with the total package per capita (Table 8) and for this reason we focus on this regressand
Summary
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic that shocked the world economy in 2020 has already infected over 18 million people worldwide, caused over 700 thousand deaths (as of mid-August 2020), and affected the lives of countless others. This paper uses the COVID-19 Policy Database of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to study the measures that its 68 members, as well as the European Central Bank (ECB), and the European Union (EU), have implemented to combat the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The specific objectives of this paper are to: (i) take stock of how packages have changed since April 2020; (ii) understand the measures that ADB members have implemented; (iii) analyze whether the measures were adequate to deal with the shock phase; and (iv) understand differences in the size of the packages, when measured in per capita terms or as percentage of gross domestic product (GDP).
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