The Economics of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Poor Countries

Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak () and Edward Miguel
Additional contact information
Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak: School of Management and Department of Economics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

Annual Review of Economics, 2022, vol. 14, issue 1, 253-285

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has upended health and living standards around the world. This article provides an interim overview of these effects, with a particular focus on low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Economists have explained how the pandemic is likely to have different consequences for LMICs and demands distinct policy responses compared to those of rich countries. We survey the rapidly expanding body of empirical research that documents the pandemic's many adverse economic and noneconomic effects in terms of living standards, education, health, and gender equality, which appear to be unprecedented in scope and scale. We also review research on successful and failed policy responses, including the failure to ensure widespread vaccine coverage in many LMICs, which is needed to end the pandemic. We close with a discussion of implications for public policy in LMICs and for the institutions of international governance, given the likelihood of future pandemics and other major shocks (e.g., climate).

Keywords: COVID-19; pandemics; economic development; public health; low- and middle-income countries; LMICs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H51 H87 I15 I18 J17 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-economics-051520-025412
Full text downloads are only available to subscribers. Visit the abstract page for more information.

Related works:
Working Paper: The Economics of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Poor Countries (2022)
Working Paper: The Economics of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Poor Countries (2021)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:anr:reveco:v:14:y:2022:p:253-285

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.annualreviews.org/action/ecommerce

DOI: 10.1146/annurev-economics-051520-025412

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Annual Review of Economics from Annual Reviews Annual Reviews 4139 El Camino Way Palo Alto, CA 94306, USA.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by http://www.annualreviews.org ().