COVID-19 BLOG

Social Policy Response in the Global South: Evidence from 36 countries

Prof. Dr. Tim Dorlach
Prof. Dr. Tim Dorlach
Tim Dorlach has done a meta-analysis of the 36 reports of our CRC 1342 Covid-19 Social Policy Response Series. He has found that during the early phase of the pandemic, most countries have focussed on temporary and targeted benefits supporting the labour market and offering social assistance. Developing economies often used cash transfers and food relief and relied heavily on external funding, whereas emerging economies applied a broad range of measures and were acting more independently.

Read more // 19.07.2022

Indonesia: Targeted social protection with international financial support

For the CRC 1342 Covid-19 Social Policy Response Series, Mulyadi Sumarto and Fery Ferdiansyah analysed how Indonesia had to stretch its limited federal budget to fund social safety nets and to help the economy recover.

Read more // 11.05.2021

Photo: sezerozger/Adobe Stock
Photo: sezerozger/Adobe Stock

Argentina' struggle to protect income and employment

The economic situation was already difficult before the pandemic, yet Argentina managed to invest a considerable part of the state budget in measures to protect the labour market and the basic income of the vulnerable population from the effects of the pandemic. Camila Arza (Interdisciplinary Centre for the Study of Public Policy, Buenos Aires) analyses the measures in detail in her report for the CRC 1342 Covid-19 Social Policy Response Series.

Read more // 22.03.2021

Argentine flag with the message "Stay at home" (Photo: Carolina Jaramillo/Adobe Stock)
Argentine flag with the message "Stay at home" (Photo: Carolina Jaramillo/Adobe Stock)

Singapore: Tapping the reserves to safeguard employment

Jun Jie Woo (National University of Singapore) wrote the 16th report of the CRC 1342 Covid-19 Social Policy Response Series. He explains how the city-state channelled close to 100 billion Singapore Dollars into four Covid-19 budgets in order to cushion the economic and social impact of the pandemic.

Read more // 09.03.2021

Singapore (Photo: TTstudio/Adobe Stock)
Singapore (Photo: TTstudio/Adobe Stock)

Ecuador’s targeting problem

In her report for the CRC 1342 Covid-19 Social Policy Response Series, Maria Gabriela Palacio (Leiden University) highlights the difficulties Ecuador was facing in 2020 when it was trying to reach informal workers with a new social protection programme.

Read more // 01.03.2021

Photo: Alexander Sánchez/Adobe Stock
Photo: Alexander Sánchez/Adobe Stock

Turkey: Protecting the formal labour market was paramount

In another issue of the CRC 1342 Covid-19 Social Policy Response Series, Kerem Öktem looks at the policy bundle that the Turkish government has applied in order to tackle the pandemic's ripple effects on the economy and livelihoods.

Read more // 22.02.2021

Photo: BStock/Adobe Stock
Photo: BStock/Adobe Stock

Covid-19 effects on migrant workers in Western Europe

Migrant workers face severe economic uncertainties because of the pandemic, Eloisa Harris, Friederike Römer and Jakob Henninger write in a blog post for Social Europe. But the extent varies, depending on the social policies of the states.

Read more // 29.05.2020

Eloisa Harris, Jakob Henninger and Dr. Friederike Römer (left to right)
Eloisa Harris, Jakob Henninger and Dr. Friederike Römer (left to right)