THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS AND THE ECONOMIC CRISIS. IS CAPITALISM AT A NEW TURNING POINT?

In: Europolity: continuity and change in European governance, Band 14, Heft 2

Abstract

Mankind will prevail in the fierce war against the coronavirus, a hidden, treacherous foe that has been attacking randomly and leaving many human deaths behind. The struggle with this pandemic has an end in sight because we have effective weapons to combat it now, such as vaccines which are be used on a grand scale, worldwide. We will overcome the severe economic downturn as well; but this crisis will leave deep scars, given that economies are witnessing sweeping changes. These changes, adding to tensions and intricate issues and policy dilemmas that date back prior to the Pandemic and the current economic crisis, call for introspection, examination of economies' functioning and a revisiting of public policies. The financial crisis that erupted a decade ago prodded social scientists and policy-makers to think about serious problems that afflict modern economies. In the text below I hook up with ideas that I have expressed in recent years and extrapolate them to the fallout from the current crises