Politics and economics

EU solidarity in fighting COVID-19

Anniek de Ruijter, Roel Beetsma, Brian Burgoon, Francesco Nicoli, Frank Vandenbroucke, 26 March 2020

An initiative to create centralised control of medical countermeasures at the EU level would solve many coordination issues in times of crisis. However, a unified European response faces a number of legal and political obstacles. This column uses a survey conducted before the COVID-19 outbreak to understand EU citizens’ attitudes towards a joint solidarity programme. It suggests considerable support already exists for an effective policy framework centralising the procurement, stockpiling, and allocation of medicines. 

Pandemics and social capital

Arnstein Aassve, Guido Alfani, Francesco Gandolfi, Marco Le Moglie, 22 March 2020

Long-term effects of a pandemic go well beyond the demographic losses. This column uses a representative survey of the US population in the aftermath of the Spanish flu to evaluate the permanent consequences of the pandemic on individual behaviour. It finds that social disruption during the period led to long-term deterioration in social trust, which had important economic consequences. The findings highlight the importance of a strong response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The polarization of reality

Stefanie Stantcheva, 20 March 2020

We think about political polarization as a disagreement about policies. But what if the voters can't even agree on the facts? Stefanie Stantcheva tells Tim Phillips about new research that has profound implications for democracy.

Singapore's response to Covid-19

Danny Quah, 20 March 2020

In a VoxTalks special, Danny Quah tells Tim Phillips how Singapore defended itself against the health and economic impact of Covid-19, and what other countries can learn from its actions.

Find Danny's chapter  in the new VoxEU book Mitigating the Covid Economic Crisis.  Free to download here.

Citizenship trade inside the EU: Sovereignty rights need to be realigned

Kai Konrad, Ray Rees, 17 March 2020

Small EU states regularly sell 'golden passports' to high net worth individuals, and these citizens thus earn the right to live and work anywhere in the EU. By imagining member states as private clubs and the EU as a ‘meta-club’, this column presents a model of the effects of this activity. While selling golden passports may be seen as an informal transfer to poorer states, the number of citizenships granted will always be larger than is optimal for the EU as a whole.

Other Recent Articles:

Events

CEPR Policy Research