Main description:

This timely book explores the neglected risk in the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, illustrating the ways in which four decades of neoliberal economic and public policy has eroded the functional capacity of states to handle catastrophic events.

Challenging the very heart of modern nation-states, Imad Moosa comprehensively demonstrates how the pandemic has shed light on existing structural problems that have been ignored by neoliberal governments and policy-makers. The author highlights the implications of the pandemic for democracy, militarism and international relations, as well as its impact on healthcare, inequality, human rights, poverty and homelessness. Drawing on theoretical insights and empirical evidence, Moosa emphasises the importance of sustained government intervention in economic activity at a time in which the free market doctrine has failed to restore equilibrium and deliver prosperity after an international financial shock.

A radical and decisive intervention in contemporary economic thought, this book is crucial reading for scholars and researchers in economics and political science, particularly those focusing on the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic and global economic recovery. The book's empirical insights and key policy recommendations will also benefit policy-makers in public health and economics.

Contents:

Contents: Preface 1. The economics and epidemiology of epidemics and pandemic 2. Measures and determinants of the severity of COVID-19 3. The effects and consequences of COVID-19 4. Public policy response to the pandemic 5. Implications for democracy, militarism and international relations 6. Rethinking the free market doctrine 7. Rethinking the principles of the Washington Consensus 8. Rethinking healthcare and welfar 9. Rethinking the status quo 10. Epilogue Index