Productivity and the Pandemic : Challenges and Insights From Covid-19

"This forward-thinking book examines the potential impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on productivity. Productivity and the Pandemic features 21 chapters authored by 46 experts, examining different aspects of how the pandemic is likely to impact on the economy, society and governance in the medium- and long-term. Drawing on a range of empirical evidence, analytical arguments and new conceptual insights, the book challenges our thinking on many dimensions. With a keen focus on place, firms, production factors and institutions, the chapters highlight how the pre-existing challenges to productivity have been variously exacerbated and mitigated by the pandemic and points out ways forward for appropriate policy-thinking in response to the crisis. An important read for scholars and students interested in the impact of the pandemic, this book will also be an invigorating read for economists and policy-makers looking for more information on how the pandemic and resulting economic recession is affecting productivity"-- Provided by publisher Front Matter 2 Copyright 5 Contents 6 Contributors 9 Acknowledgements 13 Introduction 14 1. The Covid-19 shock: the UK national and regional implications in the light of international evidence 24 2. Frontier and ‘laggard’ firms: will there be significant changes to the distribution of productivity post-Covid-19? 39 3. Firm strategies under Covid-19 induced uncertainty: implications for policy 55 4. Implications and impacts of the crisis on micro businesses and their future 69 5. The impact of Covid-19 on entrepreneurial ecosystems 82 6. Financing an entrepreneur-led economic recovery: the impact of the coronavirus on business angel investing 96 7. The implications of a crisis-driven societal shift to online consumption 111 8. The Covid-19 crisis and implications for skills development and the skills system 127 9. Good work and mental health in the post-Covid era 142 10. Business models, innovation and employees’ experiences in the workplace: challenges for the post-Covid-19 economy 155 11. Transport, the economy and environmental sustainability post-Covid-19 170 12. Sectoral and spatial impacts of the Covid-19 recession 183 13. Cities, innovation and behavioural change: how the machine is evolving 196 14. Raising productivity and housing the economy 214 15. The paradox of efficiency: why the second-best may help us hedging risks in uncertain times 228 16. Seeing the Covid-19 crises through a Minskyian lens: austerity, stratification, and productivity 242 17. How will the effects of Covid-19 on macroeconomic demand and supply affect firm-level productivity? 260 18. From systems change to systems changed: assuming a systems-based approach in response to crisis 273 19. Active labour market policy in a post-Covid UK: moving beyond a ‘work first’ approach 286 20. Recovery and resilience: how can innovation policy support the response 300 21. Understanding a pandemic: the power of administrative data 312 Index 316 This forward-thinking book examines the potential impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on productivity. Productivity and the Pandemic features 21 chapters authored by 46 experts, examining different aspects of how the pandemic is likely to impact on the economy, society and governance in the medium- and long-term. Drawing on a range of empirical evidence, analytical arguments and new conceptual insights, the book challenges our thinking on many dimensions. With a keen focus on place, firms, production factors and institutions, the chapters highlight how the pre-existing challenges to productivity have been variously exacerbated and mitigated by the pandemic and points out ways forward for appropriate policy thinking in response to the crisis.