COVID-19 Crisis and Resilience: Cross-country Evidence

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Vol. 2 No. 2 (2026): In Progress

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Jin, J. C., & Han, H. (2026). COVID-19 Crisis and Resilience: Cross-country Evidence. Crisis and Resilience, 2(2), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.65773/cr.2.2.124

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Authors

Jang C. Jin*
Jeju Institute of Economic, Research Seo Gwi Po, Jeju Province 63609, South Korea
Heejae Han
Department of Economics, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL 61801,USA

Abstract

This paper examines the institutional and socioeconomic factors that hindered the resilience of the COVID-19 crisis. An empirical model includes democracy and openness measures that were potential determinants of slow recovery from the pandemic. Other socio-economic factors such as tourism, CO2, and Monkeypox were also included as control variables. The sample includes 110 countries. One salient feature of the findings is that the recovery pattern from COVID-19 is significantly different, depending on the level of democracy. Many democratic nations, especially in Europe, that were very open to world trade experienced a relatively slow recovery from the pandemic; however, democracy played an insignificant role in authoritarian regimes, including those in Africa, that showed a rapid recovery from the pandemic. The faster recovery observed in authoritarian regimes, however, should not be read as a purely causal effect of democratic backsliding, since it likely reflects the influence of other institutional and structural factors as well.

Keywords:
pandemic recovery, democracy, globalization, COVID-19, IV estimation

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References

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