Understanding Pandemic Crisis in a Dependent Economy: A Structuralist Analysis

The pandemic crisis and associated lockdown have led to diminution in demand on one hand and different types of supply side bottlenecks on the other. The article makes a theoretical attempt to assess macroeconomic dimensions of COVID-19 along with consequences of such crisis using a two-sector dependent economy model. In particular, the article investigates the implications of unanticipated adverse shock such as COVID-19 and wage cut for the dynamic interaction of Tobin’s q, price of non-traded goods and the exchange rate and sectoral composition of output and level of employment. The effects of expansionary fiscal policy and increase in risk premium are also highlighted as the part of concluding remarks. The results in this article critically depend on the difference in the speeds of adjustments in the Tobin’s q, exchange rate and price of non-traded goods and different types of cross effects emanating from changes in interconnected macroeconomic variables. While the pandemic crisis leads to contraction of all the sectors and decrease in level of employment in the short-run with uncertain medium-run implications, the wage cut somewhat arrests the fall in employment. JEL Codes: E24, F41, G12