HUMAN CAPITAL STOCK IN TIME OF CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC. EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION
HUMAN CAPITAL STOCK IN TIME OF CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC. EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION

Author(s): Laura Diaconu (Maxim)
Subject(s): Economy
Published by: Editura Universităţii »Alexandru Ioan Cuza« din Iaşi
Keywords: Coronavirus pandemic; healthcare system; human capital stock; Romania;
Summary/Abstract: The rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic throughout the globe highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of the healthcare systems, political institutions and of the economies themselves. Considering the visible short term costs of this crisis, among which can be mentioned the tremendous losses of human life, business failures and job losses, governments began to impose restrictive measures concerning the activities and movements of population. Yet, in the beginning of 2020, a major concern was related to the fact that low and middle income states would be hit much harder than advanced economies, both on the public health and economic fronts. From the point of view of the public health, these countries have a lower capacity of the healthcare system, proxied by the number of hospital beds, medical equipment and medical personnel. The main economic concern regarding these states was that they are more susceptible to economic contraction after the health crisis. Considering all these aspects, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of Coronavirus pandemic on the human capital stock of Romania and the potential recovery pathways. Using an empirical approach based on the secondary data investigation, we started our research by underlying the medium and long- run effects on health status, as major pillar of human capital, of historical pandemics and recessions. Afterwards, we highlighted the particular challenges faced by Romania in the attempt to manage the spread and limit the impact of COVID-19 disease, which revealed valuable insights into areas that are in need of major improvements in order to avoid a human capital stock’s reduction and, consequently, a diminishing economic prosperity.

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