Has Covid-19 pandemic crisis changed the EU convergence patterns

Bibliographic Data

ID15066334
AuthorsAleksandra Fedajev (0000-0002-6974-6631, University of Belgrade), Magdalena Rădulescu (0009-0000-3728-5706, University of Pitesti, corresponding author), Ana-Gabriela Babucea (0000-0002-0744-7855, University of Belgrade), Ana Gabriela Babucea (University of Belgrade), Vladimir Mihajlovic (0000-0002-8298-3623, University of Kragujevac), Zahid Yousaf (0000-0002-7903-9420, Higher Education Commission), Raica Milićević (University of Belgrade)
Year2022
Volume35
Issue1
Pages2112-2141
Publication date2022-12-31
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEconomic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1331-677X • E-ISSN: 1848-9664
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1331677x.2021.1934507
OpenAlexW3172254076
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited43

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, governments across the EU countries had to introduce measures to close the borders, restrict the movement of people, and suspend business activities in nonessential sectors. These restrictions threatened to result in the worst economic shock since the Great Depression of the 1930s. This situation forced the EU leaders to quickly implement urgent measures in the form of stimulating packages in order to avoid a catastrophic economic collapse. The measures, however, have been implemented without coordination and insufficiently considering the solidarity principle among the Member States, which is one of the EU basic principles. In that way, the already existing gap in development among the EU economies has become even more pronounced, which will certainly have an impact on the convergence process in the EU. In that sense, this paper is aimed at analyzing the convergence process among the EU economies during the period from 2004 to 2020 and comparing differences among the EU member states during the pandemic crisis (in 2020) and the global economic crisis (in 2008). To define the policy recommendations for overcoming the crisis and for obtaining a satisfactory level of real convergence and nominal convergence, Hierarchical Agglomerative Clustering (HAC) was performed on the data for 2020 and five clusters were derived

Business · Crisis response · Development economics · Economic growth · Economic system · Economics · European union · International trade · Member states · Pandemic · Political science · Solidarity · Economic Growth and Productivity · Medicine · Regional Development and Policy · Regional resilience and development

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