Hayakawa, Kazunobu and Kuwamori, Hiroshi
Introduction to the special issue on “how does Covid‐19 change the world economy?” - The Developing Economies - 59(2), Jun, 2021: p.121-125
Coronavirus (COVID‐19), first reported in China in December 2019, has spread rapidly around the world. As of April 13, 2021, the cumulative number of infections and deaths due to COVID‐19 worldwide was more than 136 million and 2.9 million, respectively.1 To prevent the life‐threatening consequences of COVID‐19, and the potential for medical systems to be overwhelmed as a result of the pandemic, extremely restrictive measures—such as travel bans, city lockdowns, and closures of offices, factories, stores, schools, and other places—have been implemented in many countries. These measures have been effective in suppressing the spread of COVID‐19 to a certain extent; however, they have had a significant negative impact on the economy. The output growth of the world in terms of real gross domestic product was −3.3% in 2020, declining from 2.8% in 2019.2 This figure is greater than that recorded after the financial crisis of 2008, which was −0.1% in 2009. Although seems to be signs of economic recovery since the first lockdowns in April 2020, uncertainty remains because of the emergence of new variants of the virus, which have led to subsequent waves of new infection. – Reproduced
Introduction to the special issue on “how does Covid‐19 change the world economy?” - The Developing Economies - 59(2), Jun, 2021: p.121-125
Coronavirus (COVID‐19), first reported in China in December 2019, has spread rapidly around the world. As of April 13, 2021, the cumulative number of infections and deaths due to COVID‐19 worldwide was more than 136 million and 2.9 million, respectively.1 To prevent the life‐threatening consequences of COVID‐19, and the potential for medical systems to be overwhelmed as a result of the pandemic, extremely restrictive measures—such as travel bans, city lockdowns, and closures of offices, factories, stores, schools, and other places—have been implemented in many countries. These measures have been effective in suppressing the spread of COVID‐19 to a certain extent; however, they have had a significant negative impact on the economy. The output growth of the world in terms of real gross domestic product was −3.3% in 2020, declining from 2.8% in 2019.2 This figure is greater than that recorded after the financial crisis of 2008, which was −0.1% in 2009. Although seems to be signs of economic recovery since the first lockdowns in April 2020, uncertainty remains because of the emergence of new variants of the virus, which have led to subsequent waves of new infection. – Reproduced