L'impatto del Covid-19 sull'economia e la risposta della politica economica

The thesis analyzes the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the world economy during 2020 and how governments have responded. It is divided into three macro-sections: the effects on the economy, understanding the dynamics of the crisis, and the response of economic policy. In the first chapter, we analyze what the consequences of the pandemic have been on the economy and in particular its impact on GDP, employment, public debt, and inequalities. One part is dedicated to understanding the distinction of the effects of the pandemic from those of the restrictive measures adopted to limit the contagion and one to understand if there really is a trade-off between health and the economy. In the second chapter, we analyze how this crisis should be interpreted due to its exogenous nature and what are its mechanisms of action. We also see why it is a different crisis from that of 2008 and what its long-term implications are, taking as a reference what has happened in the past with similar situations. The third chapter is instead dedicated to how economic policy has responded to this crisis. For reasons of time, we focus on how European and US governments have responded to the crisis. In particular, let's see what measures have been taken by France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Spain. Then we look at the Next Generation EU, the most important economic support program ever launched by the European Union, going to see how it was born, what it foresees and how the European countries intend to spend the money they will receive. Finally, we look at what happened in the United States and in particular at the three economic stimulus packages (Cares Act, CAA, ARP) and what the effects were on the economy by analyzing the main findings of the economic literature.