Rethinking Innovation and Development Discourses in the Light of COVID-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has cast new light on worldwide socioeconomic susceptibility to exogenous shocks. This crisis has been framed unlike any other in modern memory (Schwab & Malleret, 2020). The virus was initially thought to be a mild outbreak in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 but soon spread to 216 countries (Ke & Hsiao, 2021). The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Covid dashboard indicated 540,923,532 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of June 27, 2022, resulting in 6,325,785 deaths globally. WHO declared the virus a global health emergency as it quickly moved beyond China. The United Nations Secretary—General Antonio Guterres stated that the pandemic is responsible for the largest economic catastrophe and highest unemployment since the Great Depression; COVID-19 has also endangered human rights (Ke & Hsiao, 2021). Yet, these circumstances are not exactly unprecedented. Jordà et al. (2020) investigated pandemics dating back to the 14th century and identified considerable negative macroeconomic repercussions as outbreaks persisted for decades. Some economists have conten-ded that this pandemic will lead to severe economic crises (Gans, 2020) as well. Subsequent studies (e.g., Jordà et al., 2020) similarly suggested that COVID-19 will have enduring consequences on the world’s economy, such as considerably lower return rates, with no nation escaping untouched. Susskind and Vines (2020) pointed out that this pandemic has triggered the most severe global economic consequences since the South Sea Bubble burst in 1720. Indeed, a World Bank analysis showed that COVID-19 caused economic activity to fall in nearly 90% of countries in 2020—exceeding the proportion of nations that saw similar declines during the Great Depression in the 1930s and the two world wars combined. Global economic contraction of almost 3% and a generation-first rise in poverty