Economic Response to COVID-19 Crisis in Selected Countries

​At the time of writing this paper, nearly all countries around the world are struggling with an outbreak of the novel Coronavirus, which has already caused the death of tens of thousands of people, infected over a million people, and had devastating effects on economic activity worldwide. While all countries share the effort to contain the virus, they differ in their policy tools and response time. These factors affect the virus spread rate and the capacity of healthcare systems to handle widespread morbidity of severe cases requiring medical care. Lack of appropriate medical care for severe cases increases the likelihood of mortality in this population group.

This paper is written at the beginning of April, a month after the worldwide outbreak which inflicted significant damage on economic activity. Israel is currently under near-full lockdown, with nearly a million new job seekers (dismissed or furloughed) in wake of the crisis. This paper aims to survey government support for the business sector and for job seekers in selected countries and in Israel. The first part of this paper provides a brief review of the efforts to curb the pandemic in different countries, and the outcomes of these policies so far as reflected in morbidity and mortality rates. This part also touches briefly on the pandemic's impact on economic activity in Israel and worldwide. The second and main part of the paper looks at the extent and characteristics of government support measures enacted in Israel and other countries, and reviews government support plans for businesses and job seekers in selected countries.