Mapping economic and social effects of Covid-19 in ASEAN economies
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
The emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic has created a perfect storm of crises in ASEAN member countries (AMCs). Before the Covid-19 crisis, economic inequalities were prevalent all across AMCs at domestic and regional levels and the majority of the population was confined to surviving on low and insecure incomes. The main objective of this study is to explore the economic and social effects among AMCs and how Covid-19 interacted with these effects. Our study indicates that stark and myriad economic inequalities persist among low-income and rural poor societies of high-income countries in the ASEAN ranging from wealth, access to healthcare and education services, gender-based inequalities, deprivation of basic resources and services, and asymmetry in employment and migration opportunities for certain groups. We predict that Covid-19 will exacerbate these inequalities consequently pushing marginalised and vulnerable people into extreme poverty and may further escalate health and economic risks. AMCs governments need to focus on developing an inclusive economic recovery process to strengthen the poorly protected social safety nets, address the gender-based issues and consider the inclusion of marginalised and vulnerable communities while developing health and economic recovery policies to mitigate Covid-19 impacts. Our findings provide a roadmap to the governments and policymakers scrambling for resources to combat the Covid-19 social and economic impacts.
Downloads
Article Details
Section
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish in this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (see The Effect of Open Access).
How to Cite
References
Ahmed, F., Ahmed, N., Pissarides, C., & Stiglitz, J. (2020). Why inequality could spread COVID-19. The Lancet, 5(5), E240. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30085-2 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30085-2
Asian Development Bank (ADB). (2014). ASEAN 2030 Toward a Borderless Economic Community. Retrieved September 09, 2020, from https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/159312/adbi-asean-2030-borderless-economic-community.pdf
ASEAN Statistical Year Book (ASYB). (2019). The ASEAN Secretariat Jakarta. Retrieved September 11, 2020, from https://www.aseanstats.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/ASYB_2019.pdf
Begum, H., Abbas, K., Alam, A.S.A.F., Song, H., Chowdhury, M.T., & Abdul Ghani, A.B. (2022). Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the environment and socioeconomic viability: a sustainable production chain alternative. Foresight, 24(3/4), 456-475. https://doi.org/10.1108/FS-02-2021-0053 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/FS-02-2021-0053
Bowen, G.A. (2009). Document analysis as a qualitative research method. Qualitative Research Journal, 9(2), 27–40. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3316/QRJ0902027
Brown, C., Ravallion, M., & van de Walle, D. (2019). Most of Africa's Nutritionally Deprived Women and Children are Not Found in Poor Households. https://doi.org/10.1162/rest_a_00800. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1162/rest_a_00800
Bretschneider, P., Cirilli, S., Jones, T., Lynch, S., & Wilson, N. (2017). Document review as a qualitative research data collection method for teacher research. SAGE Research Methods Cases. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473957435
Buheji, M., da Costa Cunha, K., Beka, G., Mavrić, B., Leandro do Carmo de Souza, Y., Souza da Costa Silva, S., Hanafi M., & Chetia Yein T. (2020) The extent of COVID-19 pandemic socio-economic impact on global poverty. a global integrative multidisciplinary review. American Journal of Economics, 10(4):213–224. Doi: 10.5923/j.economics.20201004.02 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5923/j.economics.20201004.02
Credit Suisse. (2019). Global Wealth Report 2019. Retrieved September 10, 2020, from www.credit-suisse.com›docs›research›publications
Duncan, C. J., & Scott, S. (2005). What caused the black death? Postgraduate Medical Journal, 81, 315-320. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/pgmj.2004.024075 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/pgmj.2004.024075
Ean, T. G., Mansor, S. B. A., & Ling, S. W. S. (2020). Regional Economic Integration and Income Inequality in Selected Asean Countries. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 10(2), 648–664. http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v10-i2/6955 DOI: https://doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v10-i2/6955
European Commission. (2020) European Economic Forecast: Spring 2020. Technical report, European Commission, Brussels, Belgium. Retrieved September 07, 2020, from https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/economic-and-financial-affairs-publications_en
Flor, L.S., Friedman, J., Spencer, C.N., Cagney, J., Arrieta, A. et al. (2022). Quantifying the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on gender equality on health, social, and economic indicators: a comprehensive review of data from March, 2020, to September, 2021, The Lancet, 399, 10344, 2381-2397. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)00008-3. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)00008-3
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). (2019). FAO framework on rural extreme poverty: Towards reaching Target 1.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals. Rome. 56 pp. Retrieved September 10, 2020, from http://www.fao.org/3/ca4811en/ca4811en.pdf).
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). (2020a). Addressing inequality in times of COVID-19. Retrieved September 07, 2020, from http://www.fao.org/3/ca8843en/CA8843EN.pdf
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). (2020b). Impact of COVID-19 on informal workers. Rome. Retrieved September 07, 2020, from https://doi.org/10.4060/ca8560en. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4060/ca8560en
Fernandes, N. (2020). Economic effects of coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) on the world economy. SSRN Electronic Journal, ISSN 1556-5068, 1–29. Retrieved September 06, 2020, from https://ssrn.com/abstract=3557504 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3557504
Gross, C. P., Utibe R. E., Pasha, S., Jacob R. G., Wang, S. Y., & Nunez-Smith, M. (2020). Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Population Level Covid-19 Mortality. Working Paper, Yale School of Medicine, hosted by medRxiv. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.07.20094250
Hall, G. H., & Patrinos, H. A. (2014). Indigenous people, poverty and development. Cambridge. Retrieved September 10, 2020, from https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139105729 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139105729
Hannon, P. (2020). How the Coronavirus Might Reduce Income Inequality. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved September 05, 2020, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-the-coronavirus-might-reduce-income-inequality-11587304801
Huang, B., & Wan, G. (2020). Overview of Income Inequality in Asia: Profile, Drivers and Consequences. In Demystifying Rising Inequality in Asia. Asian Development Bank Institute, 6-17. Retrieved September 09, 2020, from https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/485186/adbi-demystifying-rising-inequality-asia.pdf#page=16
International Labour Migration Statistics (ILMS). (2015). LMS Database for ASEAN: International Migration in ASEAN at a Glance. Retrieved September 04, 2020, from http://apmigration.ilo.org/resources/ilms-database-for-asean-international-migration-in-asean-at-a-glance
International Labour Organization (ILO). (2015). Analytical report on the international labour migration statistics database in ASEAN: Improving data collection for evidence-based policy-making. Canada. Retrieved September 06, 2020, from www.ilo.org›asia›areas›labour-migration›lang--en
International Labour Organization (ILO). (2018). Women and Men in the Informal Economy: A Statistical Picture. Geneva. Retrieved September 05, 2020, from https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/--- dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_626831.pdf
International Labour Organization (ILO). (2020). ILOSTAT. Retrieved September 08, 2020, from https://ilostat.ilo.org/data
International Monetary Fund (IMF). (2016). Regional Economic Outlook: Asia and Pacific. Retrieved September 08, 2020, from https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/REO/APAC/Issues/2017/03/06/Building-on-Asia-s-Strengths-during-Turbulent-Times
International Monetary Fund (IMF). (2020a). World Economic Outlook, April 2020: The Great Lockdown. Technical Report-April, Washington DC. Retrieved September 06, 2020, from https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2020/04/14/weo-april-2020
International Monetary Fund (IMF). (2020b). World Economic Outlook Update, June 2020- A Crisis Like No Other, An Uncertain Recovery. Retrieved July 30, 2020, from https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2020/06/24/WEOUpdateJune2020
International Organization for Migration (IOM). (2020). Migrants and the COVID-19 pandemic: An initial analysis. Retrieved September 05, 2020, from https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/mrs-60.pdf
Jetin, B. (2019). ASEAN Economic Community: the shift from absolute to relative poverty, and the rise of the middle class. Journal of Business & Economic Analysis, 2(1), 58-73. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1142/S2737566821900040
Kidd, S., & Athias, D. (2019). Hit and Miss: An Assessment of Targeting Effectiveness in Social Protection. Working Paper. Development Pathways. Orpington.
Laderchi, C. R., Saith, R., & Stewart, F. (2003). Does it matter that we do not agree on the definition of poverty? A comparison of four approaches. Oxford Development Studies, 31(3), 243–274. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1360081032000111698
Loayza, N. (2020). Costs and Trade-Offs in the Fight against the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Developing Country Perspective. Retrieved September 10, 2020, from http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/799701589552654684/pdf/Costs-and-Trade-Offsin-the-Fight-Against-the-COVID-19-Pandemic-A-Developing-Country-Perspective.pdf. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1596/33764
Mahler, D. G., Lakner, C., Aguilar, R. A. C., & Wu, H. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) on global poverty: Why Sub-Saharan Africa might be the region hardest hit. World Bank Blogs. Retrieved September 08, 2020, from https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/impact-covid-19-coronavirus-global-poverty-why-sub-saharan-africa-might-be-region-hardest
Martin, A., Markhvida, M., Hallegatte, S., & Walsh, B. (2020). Socio-Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Household Consumption and Poverty. Economics of Disasters and Climate Change. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41885-020-00070-3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41885-020-00070-3
Mckibbin, W. J., & Fernando R. (2020). The Global Macroeconomic Impacts of Covid-19: Seven Scenarios. Crawford School of Public Policy, 1-43. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3547729
Merlin, C., & Reed, A. L. (2020). Racial Health Disparities and Covid-19 – Caution and Context. The New England Journal of Medicine, 383(3), 201-203. Doi: 10.1056/NEJMp2012910 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp2012910
Mohammed, A. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic exposes global ‘frailties and inequalities. United Nations News. Retrieved September 05, 2020, from https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/05/1063022
Mordecai, A. (2017). What is the future of integration and inequality in ASEAN? The Diplomat. Retrieved September 10, 2020, from https://thediplomat.com/2017/09/what-is-the-future-of-integration-andinequality-in-asean/
Olinto, P., Lara, I. G., & Saavedra, C. J. (2014). Accelerating Poverty Reduction in a Less Poor World. The Roles of Growth and Inequality. Policy Research Working Paper, 6855. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1596/1813-9450-6855
Peterman, A., Behrman, J. A., & Quisumbing, A. R. (2014). A review of empirical evidence on gender differences in nonland agricultural inputs, technology, and services in developing countries. In Quisumbing, A.R., Meinzen-Dick, R., Raney, T. L., Croppenstedt, A., Behrman, J. A., & Peterman, A. eds. Gender in Agriculture, 145–186. Dordrecht, Netherlands, Springer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8616-4_7
Pirisi, A. (2000). Low health literacy prevents equal access to care. The Lancet, 356, 1828-1832. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(05)73297-9
Reeves, R. V., & Rothwell, J. (2020). Class and COVID: How the less affluent face double risks. Brookings. Retrieved September 08, 2020, from https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/298310/americans-step-social-distancing-even-further.aspx
Rodríguez-Bailón, R. (2020). Inequality viewed through the mirror of COVID-19. International Journal of Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1080/02134748.2020.1796298 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02134748.2020.1796298
Roser, M. (2019). The short history of global living conditions and why it matters that we know it. Retrieved September 07, 2020, from https://ourworldindata.org/a-history-of-global-living-conditions-in-5-charts
Rozelle, S., Rahimi, H., Wang, H., & Dill, E. (2020). Lockdowns are protecting China’s rural families from COVID-19, but the economic burden is heavy. Retrieved September 07, 2020, from https://www.ifpri.org/blog/lockdowns-are-protecting-chinas-rural-families-covid-19-economicburden-heavy. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.133762_11
The ASEAN. (2020). Social Protection for All in ASEAN. Retrieved September 10, 2020, from https://asean.org/storage/2020/07/The_ASEAN_Issue_03_July_2020.pdf
The ASEAN Secretariat. (2019). ASEAN Key Figures 2019. Retrieved September 10, 2020, from https://www.aseanstats.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/ASEAN_Key_Figures_2019.pdf
The Economist. (2020). Covid-19 threatens Europe’s success at fighting inequality. Retrieved September 05, 2020, from https://www.economist.com/europe/2020/06/06/covid-19-threatens-europes-success-at-fighting-inequality
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). (2022). Economic and Social Impact of Covid-19 in Angola. Retrieved July 30, 2022, from https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/aldcinf2021d6_en.pdf
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA). (2013). International migrant stock: The 2013 revision. Retrieved September 10, from www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/data/estimates2/index. shtml
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA). (2020a). Achieving SDGs in the wake of COVID-19: Scenarios for policymakers. Retrieved September 08, 2020, from https://sdgs.un.org/sites/default/files/2020-07/SDO2020_Book.pdf DOI: https://doi.org/10.18356/445fd478-en
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA). (2020b). World social report 2020: inequality in a rapidly changing world. New York, NY. Retrieved September 11, 2020, from https://www.un.org/development/desa/dspd/wpcontent/uploads/sites/22/2020/02/World-Social-Report2020-FullReport.pdf
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). (2019a). Economic and social survey of Asia and the Pacific 2019- Ambitions beyond growth. Retrieved September 10, 2020, from https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/publications/Economic_Social_Survey%202019.pdf#page=3
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). (2019b). Social Outlook for Asia and the Pacific Poorly Protected. Retrieved September 07, 2020, from https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/publications/SDD-SP-Social-Outlook-v14-1-E.pdf
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). (2020). Inequality of Outcomes in Asia and the Pacific: Trends, Drivers and Costs (Chapter 1). Retrieved September 10, 2020, from https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/03Chapter1.pdf
United Nations Least Developed Countries Portal (UNLDCP). (2020). Policy Brief: The Impact of COVID-19 on South-East Asia. Retrieved September 10, 2020, from https://www.un.org/ldcportal/policy-brief-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-south-east-asia/
United Nations Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG). (2020a). Policy Brief: The Impact of COVID-19 on South-East Asia. Retrieved September 07, 2020, from https://unsdg.un.org/resources/policy-brief-impact-covid-19-south-east-asia
United Nations Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG). (2020b). Policy Brief: COVID-19 and Transforming Tourism. Retrieved September 02, 2020, from https://unsdg.un.org/sites/default/files/2020-08/sg_policy_brief_covid-19_tourism_august_2020.pdf
United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (UNSCEBC). (2019). Report of the High-level Committee on Programmes at its thirty-eighth session- 12 December 2019. Retrieved September 08, 2020, from https://unsceb.org/sites/default/files/CEB_2019_6%20%28HLCP%2038%29.pdf
UN-Women. (2020). The coronavirus is exacerbating pervasive gender inequalities and discrimination facing women in the region. Press release-09 April 2020. Retrieved September 07, 2020, from https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2020/4/press-release-women-hit-harder-by-socio-economic-impacts-of-covid-19-in-asia-pacific
Vera, C. (2020). As coronavirus spreads to poorer countries, here's how the world can help. World Economic Forum. Retrieved September 05, 2020, from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/03/coronavirus-developing-countries-inequality-debt-oxfam/
Waddington, H., Snilstveit, B., Hombrados, J. G., Vojtkova, M., Anderson, J., & White, H. (2014). Farmer Field Schools for Improving Farming Practices and Farmer Outcomes in Low-and Middle-income Countries: A Systematic Review. Campbell Systematic Reviews, 10(6). https://doi.org/10.4073/CSR.2014.6 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4073/CSR.2014.6
Wilkinson, R. G., & Pickett, K. E. (2017). The enemy between us: The psychological and social costs of inequality. European Journal of Social Psychology, 47, 11–24. Doi:10.1002/ejsp.2275 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2275
World Bank. (2015). Annual Remittances Data, updated as of April 2015. Retrieved September 10, 2020, from http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTDECPROSPECTS/0,contentMDK:22759429~pagePK:64165401~piPK:64 165026~theSitePK:476883,00.html
World Bank. (2018). Inside the Household: Poor Children, Women, and Men. In Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2018: Piecing Together the Poverty Puzzle, pp. 125-149. Washington, D.C., World Bank Group. Retrieved September 09, 2020, from https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-1330-6 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-1330-6
World Bank. (2020a). East Asia and Pacific in the Time of Covid-19. World Bank East Asia and Pacific Economic Update-April. Retrieved September 05, 2020, from https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-1565-2. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/33477
World Bank. (2020b). World Bank Group’s Operational Response to COVID-19 (coronavirus) – Projects List”, 17 July 2020. Retrieved September 05, 2020, from https://www.worldbank.org/en/about/what-we-do/brief/world-bank-group-operational-response-covid-19-coronavirus-projects-list.
World Bank Group. (2020). COVID-19 Crisis Through a Migration Lens Migration and Development Brief 32. Retrieved September 09, 2020, from https://www.knomad.org/sites/default/files/2020-05/Migration%20and%20Development%20Brief%2032.pdf