Résumé
In early 2020, many widespread restrictive measures were introduced worldwide in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These measures entailed high socio-economic costs, which have been largely overlooked due to political motivations and the difficulty of their measurement. One of them is the negative impact of widespread restrictive measures on life expectancy due to the limited school attendance and the negative impact of restrictions on the population's health status. In this paper, we use our own structural model based on the trade-off analysis method. The research compares the lost years of life in the situation of the existence of restrictive measures and, on the contrary, the situation of a complete absence of these measures. We use data from the Czech Republic between February 2020 and October 2021. Our article concludes that the number of lost years of life is many times higher when widespread restrictive measures are implemented in all considered scenarios. These findings should be considered when making further decisions on applying widespread restrictive measures in the Czech Republic. © 2022, Bucharest University of Economic Studies. All rights reserved.
Résumé
The worldwide spread of coronavirus has shaken stock markets and significantly increased risk. The most-watched US stock index S&P 500 fell by 35% from 19th February to 23rd March. Indices of other countries registered a similar development. Although the spread of the virus has been brought under control in many countries currently, the worldwide number of infections is still growing. Unprecedented monetary and fiscal stimuli, on the other hand, have reversed sentiment in the markets. From 23rd March 2020, stock markets gradually had been growing until the S&P 500 index reached only 5% below historical highs on 8th June 2020. The paper deals with the development of volatility of selected stock indices, their mutual correlations, and the relationship with the number of infected in a given country.
Résumé
The content of the paper defines and characterizes five key arguments for why, given the absence of an optimal monetary area, it is advantageous for an economy to be able to dispose of its own currency during periods of crisis, such as the current coronavirus pandemic. The article bases its arguments on the optimal currency area theory and the Mundell-Fleming model. The analytical part of the article approaches the example of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic, a well-matched comparison given that they are both small open economies with a common history but also because they faced the coronavirus pandemic at the same time and were affected to a similar extent. Unlike its Czech neighbour, the Slovak Republic adopted a single currency, the Euro, in 2009 and therefore became a member of the eurozone. Therefore, the use of its own currency to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic effects can be approximated by comparing the two countries. The analysis in this article results in the identification of the following five arguments for the advantage of having an independent currency: 1) absence of an optimal monetary area in the eurozone, 2) an independent monetary policy, 3) foreign trade support, 4) mitigating the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on price level changes, 5) supporting domestic production and services. The coronavirus pandemic has deepened the already existing problems of the eurozone and has clearly demonstrated the benefits of maintaining an independent currency in the case of the Czech Republic.
Résumé
The goal of this article is to carefully analyze the political-economic reactions of the European Union Institutions on the pandemic crisis created by the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing Covid-19 disease, commonly known as coronavirus. The first part of the article is dedicated to the general theory of integration, the history of European integration, and the historical development of EU institutions. The general theory of integration and EU institution's development are both included because understanding these basic principles and processes is vital in understanding the contemporary problems within the European Union. The second part of this article is dedicated to the analysis of the reactions done by EU institutions, regional Visegrad group, and selected EU member states to the rapidly spreading Covid-19 disease. The third part of this article is dedicated to possible future outcomes for European nations once the coronavirus pandemic is over. The possible future outcomes of pandemic crisis are in the context of this article changes in European or national legislative, changes in money redistribution done by EU institutions, or changes in the mood among the people living in member states of the European Union.
Résumé
The article compares the development of the main government debt indicators in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia between 2014 and 2019 while evaluating their respective positions in at the beginning of the crisis caused by the spread of Covid-19 in early 2020. After a review of the characteristics and the nature of the external shock in comparison to previous crisis which took place from 2008 to 2009, the article discusses the preparedness of both economies for negative external shocks, primarily from the public finance perspective. The authors conclude that the Czech fiscal position is one of slightly higher overall preparedness to overcome possible economic problems than that of its Slovak counterpart. However, further assessment of the underlying tensions within Czech government deficit structure, past procyclical economic policy behavior and recent policy actions lessen the superiority of the Czech fiscal position and render both economies equally exposed to the negative effects of the coming crisis. In the current environment of uncertainity, it is difficult to establish a conclusive projection but the authors highlight the key risk areas for the medium-term horizon in the concluding discussion of the paper.