Pandemic Policy Research Articles

The Covid-19 Pandemic Public Policies: The United Nations, The European Union and Türkiye

This study delves into the public policies implemented by the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU), and Türkiye in their endeavors to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, which was initially reported to have emerged from the city of Wuhan in the Hubei province of the People's Republic of China in late 2019. Specifically, the study aims to examine and analyze the effectiveness of these actors in managing the Covid-19 and its impact on public health, the economy, and social well-being. Through a comparative lens, the study seeks to shed light on the national and global efforts undertaken by these actors to protect public health and mitigate the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic. To achieve its objectives, the study begins with providing a comprehensive understanding of the concept of public policy and its relevance in the context of managing public health crises. Furthermore, by providing a historical analysis of past pandemics, it engages in discussions on drawing lessons from previous experiences for the current pandemic's management and policymaking. Subsequently, the strategies that pursued by UN, the EU and Türkiye in tackling the Covid-19 outbreak are critically examined and evaluated. In order to make a comparison between different political organizational levels (international organization, regional cooperation, and nation-state) in combating the pandemic, these actors have been selected. The study assesses the efficacy, effectiveness, adaptability, problem-solving capacity, and establishment of global solidarity through an evaluation framework, which encompasses various criteria by using qualitative analysis methods. Subsequently, the study seeks to offer nuanced insights into the strengths, limitations, and lessons learned from the public policies formulated and implemented by these actors during the Covid-19 pandemic. By undertaking this academic inquiry, the study would contribute to the scholarly surrounding pandemic management and public policy formulation. It also contributes to the understanding of the effectiveness and impact of public policies in the context of a global health crisis and provides a background for public health policy makers and stakeholders. The analyzed public policies show that the actors basically pursue similar policies, but there are differences in terms of timing.

Studying the impact of COVID-19 mitigation policies on childhood obesity, health behaviors, and disparities in an observational cohort: Protocol for the COVID-19 Family Study

BackgroundCOVID-19 pandemic control policies, including school closures, suspended extra-curricular activities, and social distancing, were introduced to prevent viral transmission, and disrupted children's daily routines, health behaviors, and wellness. This observational cohort study among 697 families with children or adolescents, based on the Family Stress Model, aims to: 1) evaluate pre- to during-pandemic changes in child health behaviors (diet, physical activity, sleep) and weight gain, 2) identify mechanisms explaining the changes, and 3) determine projected healthcare costs on weight gain and obesity. Each aim includes an examination by racial and ethnic, socioeconomic, and geographic disparities. MethodsThe study employs a mixed methods design, recruiting children and their caregivers from two obesity prevention trials halted in 2020. Enrolled participants complete annual surveys to assess child health behaviors, family resources, routines, and demographics, and home environment in 2020–2022. Height and weight are measured annually in 2021–2022. Annual semi-structured interviews are conducted within a subsample to understand mechanisms of observed changes. Multilevel mixed models and mediation analyses are used to examine changes in child health behaviors and weight gain and mechanisms underlying the changes. Qualitative data are analyzed within and across time points and integrated with quantitative findings to further explain mechanisms. Markov models are used to determine healthcare costs for unhealthy child behaviors and weight gain. ConclusionFindings from this study will aid in understanding pandemic-related changes in child health behaviors and weight status and will provide insights for the implementation of future programs and policies to improve child and family wellness.

An analysis of the context factors influencing the diverse response of airports to COVID-19 using panel and group regression

Since 2020, the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to various levels of recovery across different aviation markets. To better plan for the future, post-pandemic era, air transport policies should consider the potential differential responses of airports to the pandemic based on their geographic network and competitive situations. Much literature provides policy recommendations for planning and development in the post-pandemic era, however fewer studies focus on the short-term recovery trends and diverse responses to the pandemic (that were) made by airports. This paper introduces four impact dimensions faced by airports as a result of the pandemic: airport operations, geographical location, socio-economic environment, and government pandemic policies. Panel and group regression were employed to explore the factors associated with airports’ response to the pandemic in relation to the four dimensions. The seat capacity at the airports was forecast for a non-pandemic scenario using ARIMA models. The residual ratios between the predicted and the actual seat capacity values were the dependent variables capturing the pandemic effect. The results show that, in addition to the direct effect of the pandemic policy, the location of the airport (and other transport modes in its vicinity) had a significant impact on its short-term recovery. Further, the extent of the impact varied by region. The findings of the correlation between different factors and airport responses provide policymakers with more targeted recovery strategies. At the macro-scale, the analysis of multidimensional factors suggests recommendations for airlines and planners for a faster and more efficient recovery of the aviation networks for future disruptions.

The Impact of Higher Education on Health Behavior during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from China

The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated illness significantly damage people’s physical and mental health. Previous studies focus on the role of strong government public-health management to improve people’s health conditions. The objective of this study is to explore the specific impact of higher education on health behavior and pandemic policy, which remains relatively unexplored. Using data from the 2021 Chinese Social Survey, we employ an OLS regression to examine the effect of education on the change in health behaviors. Then, we use China’s higher education expansion as an instrumental variable to mitigate the potential endogeneity. The results reveal a positive relationship between higher education and health behaviors, both due to improved socioeconomic conditions and enhanced psychological wellbeing. Additionally, we find that the health return of higher education differs significantly between rural and urban areas, suggesting the presence of education inequality. These findings underscore the importance of higher education and individual health behavior in controlling the spread of major pandemics, emphasizing the need for public policy to consider the role of higher education in pandemic management.

An assessment of the Philippines government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic based on policy response indices

COVD-19 has resulted in governments worldwide implementing policies for pandemic suppression or containment. The Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT) global database of pandemic policy responses provide open access data to allow for national assessments of pandemic response policies. Using OxCGRT data for the Philippines, we assessed the temporal trends of pandemic response indices and indicators. Using principal components and principal coordinate analyses, OLS and logistic regression on the ordinal policy response variables, composite policy response indices, and epidemiological estimates of pandemic spread, we assess which policy response is most significant in pandemic management. Stringency and Restrictions to Internal Movement are most significant and this reflects on the primary policing and securitizing strategy used by the Philippines government in the pandemic response. This has limited effective outcomes based on its relationships with health, economic and vaccination policy categories. We contextualize these findings with the outcomes of the government’s vaccination policy.

Factors associated with HIV-positive status awareness among adults with long term HIV infection in four countries in the East and Southern Africa region: A multilevel approach.

Antiretroviral treatment (ART) appropriately and regularly used decreases the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) viral load in the bloodstream, preventing HIV-infected people from spreading the infection to others. Disparities in ART adoption persists in East and Southern Africa, with low HIV-positive status knowledge being the primary factor. We investigated individual and household characteristics of HIV-positive status awareness among adults with long-term HIV infection in four East and Southern African countries: Eswatini, Malawi, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. The study analyzed data from surveys conducted in Eswatini, Malawi, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe in 2015-2016. Only individuals who tested positive for HIV through rapid tests were included in the analysis. Those who already knew they were HIV-positive were categorized as aware, while those who reported being negative, never tested, or didn't know their status were categorized as unaware. Statistical models were used to examine various factors related to HIV awareness. Pooled and country-specific odds ratios were computed. The percentage of people who knew they had HIV ranged from 58% (Tanzania and Malawi) to 87% (Eswatini). After adjusting for other variables, young persons in all countries were less likely to be aware of their HIV-positive status. Gender, marital status, education, working status, household wealth, and urbanization level of households were also associated with HIV-positive status awareness but inconsistent across countries. HIV-positive status awareness in these four East and Southern African nations remained unsatisfactory as compared to the United Nations' 95% guideline, indicating that testing and knowledge of HIV testing in this region still has a lot of potential for improvement. The observed variations among nations may be attributable to differences in HIV pandemic culture and policies. The findings of this study will assist governments determining which subpopulations to target to boost adoption of HIV testing services, as well as in designing and development of policies.

The optimisation of public health emergency governance: a simulation study based on COVID-19 pandemic control policy

BackgroundThe outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic sparked numerous studies on policy options for managing public health emergencies, especially regarding how to choose the intensity of prevention and control to maintain a balance between economic development and disease prevention.MethodsWe constructed a cost-benefit model of COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control policies based on an epidemic transmission model. On this basis, numerical simulations were performed for different economies to analyse the dynamic evolution of prevention and control policies. These economies include areas with high control costs, as seen in high-income economies, and areas with relatively low control costs, exhibited in upper-middle-income economies.ResultsThe simulation results indicate that, at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, both high-and low-cost economies tended to enforce intensive interventions. However, as the virus evolved, particularly in circumstances with relatively rates of reproduction, short incubation periods, short spans of infection and low mortality rates, high-cost economies became inclined to ease restrictions, while low-cost economies took the opposite approach. However, the consideration of additional costs incurred by the non-infected population means that a low-cost economy is likely to lift restrictions as well.ConclusionsThis study concludes that variations in prevention and control policies among nations with varying income levels stem from variances in virus transmission characteristics, economic development, and control costs. This study can help researchers and policymakers better understand the differences in policy choice among various economies as well as the changing trends of dynamic policy choices, thus providing a certain reference value for the policy direction of global public health emergencies.

The Impact of China's Pandemic Deregulation Policy on SSEC and SZSE Indexes

In early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak, Chinese stock market experienced a sharp decline as investors became increasingly concerned about the economic consequences of the pandemic. As the pandemic continued to spread globally, the Chinese government implemented strict measures to control its spread, which included lockdowns, travel restrictions, and other forms of social distancing. Although these measures worked, economy was drastically affected with many stores closing down and consumer expenditures significantly declining. This, meanwhile, led to a decrease in corporate profits and a reduction in investor confidence. However, on December 8, 2022, the Chinese government issued a pandemic deregulation policy identifying people would return to their normal life. In this paper, prices of the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite (SSEC) index and Shenzhen Securities Component (SZSE) index were retrieved and ARIMA method was adopted to predict the stock prices for a period after the pandemic. The author compared forecast prices with the actual stock prices and then analyzed the implications of the deregulation policy on the stock market. These two indexes are only a snapshot of the Chinese economy, and certain informative feedback can be obtained through this study, which is helpful to relevant investors and policy makers.

Alleviating the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Physical, Psychological Health, and Wellbeing of Students: Coping Behavior as a Mediator.

Public health procedures under the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown policy negatively affect people's health. Students' physical issues have been increased due to restrictions which further impact their psychological and overall well-being. The research looks at the influence of coping behavior in mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on students' physical/psychological health and general well-being. The study's participants were chosen from a pool of 2200 people using convenience sampling. Using an anonymous online poll, the main data were gathered. The collected data were analyzed by using Smart-PLS. From eight direct correlations, seven were found to be true, except the route pandemic -> overall wellbeing, which was not true. Furthermore, it was shown that the mediating effect of coping behavior was statistically significant in the routes of mediation. Coping strategies have a significant role in how a person responds to trying circumstances. Our study's results suggest that coping strategies had a statistically significant mediation role in reducing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is concluded that appropriate coping strategies are an effective adaptation of a protective barrier against the damaging effects of COVID-19 on health.

Qualitative perspectives on COVID-19, interpersonal violence, and interventions to improve well-being from adolescent girls and young women in Kisumu, Kenya.

Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) face a high burden of gender-based violence (GBV) worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic and associated policies led to global increases in GBV, decreased access to resources, and disruptions of pathways to care. We aimed to understand the effects of COVID-19 on AGYW affected by GBV in Kisumu, Kenya, as well as to identify possible interventions to mitigate those effects. Focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with AGYW aged 15-25 with a history of exposure to GBV. AGYW were split into age-matched groups; aged 15-19 for younger groups and 19-25 for older groups. Discussions focused on how COVID-19 affected experiences of GBV, access to care services, economic and social outcomes, and opportunities for interventions to mitigate negative impacts of COVID-19 and violence. Five FGDs with 46 AGYW were completed in June-September 2021. AGYW described increases in all types of GBV, particularly sexual abuse and intimate partner violence. Early marriage and subsistence transactional sex also increased. AGYW described violence as both a cause and effect of poor economic, social and health consequences related to the pandemic. Notably, AGYW emphasized stress, lack of mental health support and increased substance use as risk factors for violence, and discussed the deleterious mental health effects of violence-particularly in the wake of disruption of mental health services. COVID-19 disrupted referrals to violence-related services, and reduced access to both medical services and psychosocial services. AGYW believed that interventions focused on improving mental health as well as economic empowerment would be the most feasible and acceptable in mitigating the negative effects of COVID-19 and related exacerbations in violence. AGYW reported increases in almost all forms of GBV during the pandemic, with related exacerbation in mental health. Concurrently, AGYW endorsed decreased access to care services. As there is no evidence that violence and mental health challenges will quickly resolve, there is an urgent need to identify and implement interventions to mitigate these negative effects.

The Impact of Chinas COVID-19 Prevention and Control Measures Release on Japans Air-transportation Industry

On December 7th, 2022, the Chinese State Council held a press conference and released a notification on further optimizing the COVID-19 control policies. This signifies that all COVID-19 pandemic control measures in China have been eased. The transformation in the Chinese government's attitude towards COVID-19 prevention and control has had a significant influence on China's market and most industries. This change has also had an undeniable impact on certain industries, especially the air transportation industry in developed countries around the world, including Japan, which is China's most important neighboring country. This paper focuses on the Japanese air transportation industry, specifically analyzing the Nikkei-500 and TOPIX indices. It collects weekly closing data from April 26th, 2020, to April 23rd, 2023, and utilizes the ARIMA model to analyze the data. The aim is to explore how the Japanese air transportation industry has been affected by the relaxation of COVID-19 pandemic control policies in China. Furthermore, this paper discusses the insights gained from the research findings and provides advice for policymakers and investors.

The Effect of Psychological Distress on Adolescents' Academic Engagement: The Roles of Social-Emotional Competence and Teachers' Caring Behavior.

The relationship between psychological distress (PD) and academic engagement (AE) in adolescents is widely recognized. However, there is a lack of research on the mechanisms behind this correlation, especially in COVID-19 pandemic policy liberalization. This study proposed a moderated mediation model to determine the mediating role of social-emotional competence (SEC) between PD and AE and the moderating role of teachers' caring behavior (TCB). The moderated mediation model was tested by PROCESS macro developed based on SPSS with Chinese adolescents aged 13-18 years (n = 8625; male 50.5%) as survey respondents. Multiple scales, including the 6-item Kessler PD Scale, SEC Scale, TCB Scale, and AE Scale, were used in this test. Adolescent PD negatively predicted AE. In addition, SEC partially mediated the relationship between adolescent PD and AE. TCB moderated the direct and indirect relationships between PD and AE, which mitigated the negative effect of PD on AE and enhanced the positive effect of SEC on AE. Adolescent SEC and TCB are essential in mediating PD and AE. This study provided instructions for schools and teachers to intervene in adolescents' PD and academic problems, such as improving SEC and engaging in TCB in an adequate and timely manner. In addition, these findings provided vital references for adolescent mental health interventions in future large-scale public health events.

Risks of opioid overdose among New York State Medicaid recipients with chronic pain before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

ObjectiveThe COVID-19 pandemic contributed to healthcare disruptions for patients with chronic pain. Following initial disruptions, national policies were enacted to expand access to long-term opioid therapy (LTOT) for chronic pain and opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment services, which may have modified risk of opioid overdose. We examined associations between LTOT and/or OUD with fatal and non-fatal opioid overdoses, and whether the pandemic moderated overdose risk in these groups. MethodsWe analyzed New York State Medicaid claims data (3/1/2019–12/31/20) of patients with chronic pain (N = 236,391). We used generalized estimating equations models to assess associations between LTOT and/or OUD (neither LTOT or OUD [ref], LTOT only, OUD only, and LTOT and OUD) and the pandemic (03/2020–12/2020) with opioid overdose. ResultsThe pandemic did not significantly (ns) affect opioid overdose among patients with LTOT and/or OUD. While patients with LTOT (vs. no LTOT) had a slight increase in opioid overdose during the pandemic (pre-pandemic: aOR:1.65, 95% CI:1.05, 2.57; pandemic: aOR:2.43, CI:1.75,3.37, ns), patients with OUD had a slightly attenuated odds of overdose during the pandemic (pre-pandemic: aOR:5.65, CI:4.73, 6.75; pandemic: aOR:5.16, CI:4.33, 6.14, ns). Patients with both LTOT and OUD also experienced a slightly reduced odds of opioid overdose during the pandemic (pre-pandemic: aOR:5.82, CI:3.58, 9.44; pandemic: aOR:3.70, CI:2.11, 6.50, ns). ConclusionsFindings demonstrated no significant effect of the pandemic on opioid overdose among people with chronic pain and LTOT and/or OUD, suggesting pandemic policies expanding access to chronic pain and OUD treatment services may have mitigated the risk of opioid overdose.

Mediation analysis of public emotions in response to policy implementation performance during crises: the case of COVID-19 management policies in the UK

ABSTRACT Understanding public emotions in crises is crucial to effective public policy management for governments. This study examines the relationship between pandemic management policies, pandemic management performance, and fundamental emotions according to Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotion, in the context of COVID-19 in the UK. Our findings validate the role of emotions in shaping political events and then suggest the involvement of emotions, namely fear and surprise, as mediators in government policies and their subsequent outcomes in pandemic management. The study contributes to the public policy management literature by emphasizing the importance of the heterogeneity of emotions.

COVID-19 impacts on cross-border mobility of senior population between Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

The onset of the COVID-19 outbreak led to widespread adoption of mobility intervention policies, which were widely regarded as effective measures to control the spread of the virus. The initial pandemic wave, accompanied by the enforcement of mobility intervention policies, greatly changed human mobility patterns, especially cross-border mobility (CBM). This study investigates the impact of the first wave of the pandemic and related mobility intervention policies on the CBM of the senior population between Shenzhen and Hong Kong. Based on anonymous mobile phone trajectory data from 17 million devices active in Shenzhen spanning December 2019 to May 2020, we consider the implementation of mobility intervention policies during different stages of pandemic in both cities. We adopt interrupted time series (ITS) analysis to explore the causal effects of different mobility intervention policies on the CBM of older people between Hong Kong and Shenzhen. We find that most mobility intervention policies have a significant abrupt or gradual effect on the CBM of older people, especially in the 60-64 age group. As these policies neglect the mobility needs and characteristics among the senior groups, such as visiting relatives or friends and seeking medical treatment across borders, we suggest that more coordinated and integrated policies and measures are required to address the CBM needs of older people in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, especially in the post-pandemic era.

Understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on U.S. older adults: self-reported pandemic-related concerns and consequences in a cross-sectional survey study.

The purpose of this study was to explore COVID-19 pandemic-related concerns among a racially and ethnically representative sample of older adults in the U.S. Participants were 501 English-speaking adults 60 years and older recruited online nationally across the U.S. from Amazon Mechanical Turk (mTurk) and Prolific Research Platforms during June of 2020. Data comes from a larger cross-sectional survey. We content analyzed open-ended responses about pandemic-related concerns and observed responses to a checklist of items created by the research team to assess for specific physical, social, and financial consequences experienced due to the pandemic. A majority of the sample (92%) reported at least one pandemic-related concern, with the highest percentage expressing concerns coded as Concern for Others (28%), Physical Health (27%), Socializing (24%), Finance (15%) and Socio-Political-Economic (14%). Participants reported high concern severity (M = 4.03, SD = 1.04) about their concerns mentioned in response to the open-ended concerns question. When prompted with a checklist of items, participants frequently endorsed disruption in social activities as a consequence of the pandemic (83%), disruptions that could impact physical health (45%), and concern over finances as a consequence of the pandemic (41%). Older adults most frequently mentioned concerns about the well-being and behavior of others, one's own physical health, and the impacts of the pandemic and social distancing policies on social activities. Findings align with the Socioemotional Selectivity Theory and point to the importance of supporting older adults to maintain meaningful social engagement under conditions of a pandemic and social distancing policies.

The change of healthcare service in Chinese patients with inflammatory bowel disease during the pandemic: a national multicenter cross-sectional study

The pandemic of COVID-19 was a major public health events and had a deeply impact on the healthcare acquired by patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the long-term impacts on healthcare service in Chinese IBD patients under the dynamic zero-COVID strategy. The study was performed in the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Quality of Care Centers in mainland China in 2021. The data about the healthcare was collected by a 44-item questionnaire. Totally 463 were from ulcerative colitis (UC) patients and 538 from Crohn’s disease (CD) patients were included in the study. The pandemic impacted 37.5% patients on their treatment, and the biggest problem was unable to follow up timely (77.9%). There was a significant increase in healthcare costs in CD (P < 0.001) and no significant change in UC (P = 0.14) after the outbreak. Both UC and CD had an increase in the frequency of outpatient visits (UC 5.07 vs. 4.54, P = 0.001; CD 6.30 vs. 5.76, P = 0.002), and hospitalizations (UC 1.30 vs. 1.02, P < 0.001; CD 3.55 vs. 2.78, P < 0.001). The hospitalization rate in UC reduced slightly (40.2% vs. 42.8%, P = 0.423) after the outbreak, but it significantly increased in CD (75.8% vs. 67.8%, P = 0.004). The rate of biologics had significant increased (UC 11.2% vs. 17.7%, P = 0.005; CD 53.2% vs. 71.0%, P < 0.001). Besides, the proportion of people using telemedicine also increased from 41.6% to 55.1% (P < 0.001). However, 82.8% patients still preferred face-to-face visits. Recurrent outbreaks and the regular pandemic prevention and control policy had a long-term impact on medical care service for IBD patients. The preferred mode of healthcare was still face-to-face visit. It will be a long way to go in the construction of telemedicine in China.

Quantifying Health Policy Uncertainty in China Using Newspapers: Text Mining Study.

From the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003 to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, a series of health measures and policies have been introduced from the central to the local level in China. However, no study has constructed an uncertainty index that can reflect the volatility, risk, and policy characteristics of the health environment. We used text mining analysis on mainstream newspapers to quantify the volume of reports about health policy and the total number of news articles and to construct a series of indexes that could reflect the uncertainty of health policy in China. Using the Wisenews database, 11 of the most influential newspapers in mainland China were selected to obtain the sample articles. The health policy uncertainty (HPU) index for each month from 2003 to 2022 was constructed by searching articles containing the specified keywords and calculating their frequency. Robustness tests were conducted through correlation analysis. The HPU index was plotted using STATA (version 16.0), and a comparative analysis of the China and US HPU indexes was then performed. We retrieved 6482 sample articles from 7.49 million news articles in 11 newspapers. The China HPU index was constructed, and the robustness test showed a correlation coefficient greater than 0.74, which indicates good robustness. Key health events can cause index fluctuations. At the beginning of COVID-19 (May 2020), the HPU index climbed to 502.0. In December 2022, China's HPU index reached its highest value of 613.8 after the release of the "New Ten Rules" pandemic prevention and control policy. There were significant differences in HPU index fluctuations between China and the United States during SARS and COVID-19, as well as during the Affordable Care Act period. National health policy is a guide for health development, and uncertainty in health policy can affect not only the implementation of policy by managers but also the health-seeking behavior of the people. Here, we conclude that changes in critical health policies, major national or international events, and infectious diseases with widespread impact can create significant uncertainty in China's health policies. The uncertainty of health policies in China and the United States is quite different due to different political systems and news environments. What is the same is that COVID-19 has brought great policy volatility to both countries. To the best of our knowledge, our work is the first systematic text mining study of HPU in China.

COVID-19 and MSMEs in India: An Analysis of Pandemic Shock and Policy Response

The unprecedented outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic has had a negative effect on the growth and performance of enterprises in India and around the world. Out of all, the MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) were significantly impacted. The Covid-19 has further exacerbated the situation in the MSME sector, which was already suffering severe hardship as a result of the prolonged economic slowdown, demonetization and GST. The paper examines the challenges faced by MSMEs during Covid-19. The paper further assesses the initiatives undertaken by the government for promoting the growth and performance of MSMEs. At the end, the paper provides suggestions for improving the operational performance of MSMEs.

Spatial market integration during a pandemic: Evidence from food markets in Nigeria

AbstractThis paper uses comprehensive and long time series monthly food price data and a panel dyadic regression framework to evaluate the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic and associated policy responses on spatial market integration across a diverse set of food items in Nigeria. The empirical results reveal several important insights. First, we show that a significant slowdown in the speed of adjustment and price transmission occurred during the pandemic. For some food items, the speed of adjustment and, by implication, spatial market integration weakened by two‐ to‐threefold after the outbreak of the pandemic. The effect was especially pronounced for perishable food items. Second, lockdown measures and the spread of the pandemic triggered additional dispersion in market prices across markets. For example, lockdown measures were associated with a 5%–10% reduction in the speed of readjustment toward long‐term equilibrium. Third, additional underlying attributes of markets, including lack of access to digital infrastructure and distance between markets, exacerbated impacts associated with the pandemic. For instance, access to Internet service reduced the slowdown in the speed of adjustment caused by the pandemic, but longer distances between market pairs induced greater slowdown in the speed of price transmission. Our findings offer important insights for revitalizing the efficiency of food markets affected by the pandemic. The heterogenous impacts of the pandemic across value chains and markets reinforce the need to properly target post‐pandemic recovery interventions and investments. Finally, we offer some insights to reduce the vulnerability of food and market systems to disruptions in future pandemics or similar phenomena that inhibit food marketing and trade.