The Efficiency of Health Systems in Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic: Evidence from the EU Countries

Tamara Rađenović

tamara.radjenovic@znrfak.ni.ac.rs
Faculty of Occupational Safety, University of Niš (Serbia)
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1632-7772

Vladimir Radivojević


Faculty of Economics, University of Priština in Kosovska Mitrovica (Serbia)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3928-0623

Bojan Krstić


Faculty of Economics, University of Niš (Serbia)
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4597-6819

Tanja Stanišić


Faculty of Hotel Management and Tourism in Vrnjačka Banja, University of Kragujevac (Serbia)
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5809-794X

Snežana Živković


Faculty of Occupational Safety, University of Niš (Serbia)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7931-9334

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the insufficient capacities and capabilities of countries around the world to deal with global infectious diseases and stressed the need to improve the international health security framework. An efficient and comprehensive health system that is able to cope with public health emergencies is an essential prerequisite for strengthening health security. The paper analyzes the efficiency of health systems in the European Union (EU) countries and their responsiveness to the COVID-19 pandemic. The research covers 27 EU countries and it is based on the secondary data contained in the 2019 Global Health Security Index Report. The aim of the paper is to identify key determinants for improving the efficiency of health systems in the EU, as well as to examine the interdependence between health expenditures and the efficiency of health system in this sample of countries. The research is conducted through descriptive statistics and correlation and regression analysis. The conclusions can be useful for the EU policy makers in formulating a strategy to improve the efficiency of Member States’ health systems and preparedness for possible new pandemics.


Keywords:

efficiency, health system, health security, health expenditures, EU countries, COVID-19

ACEMOGLU D., CHERNOZHUKOV V., WERNING I., WHINSTON M.D., 2020, A multi-risk SIR model with optimally targeted lockdown, National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper, No. 27102.
  Google Scholar

ALBANESI S., KIM J., 2021, The gendered impact of the COVID-19 recession on the us labor market, National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper, No. 28505.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3386/w28505   Google Scholar

ALON, T.M., DOEPKE M., OLMSTEAD-RUMSEY J., TERTILT M., 2020, The impact of COVID19 on gender equality, National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper, No. 26947.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3386/w26947   Google Scholar

ALVAREZ F.E., ARGENTE D., LIPPI F., 2020, A simple planning problem for COVID-19 lockdown, National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper, No. 26981.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3386/w26981   Google Scholar

ANAND P., FERRER B., GAO Q., NOGALES R., UNTERHALTER E., 2020, COVID-19 as a capability crisis: Using the capability framework to understand policy challenges, Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 21(3): 293-299.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19452829.2020.1789079   Google Scholar

ASHRAF N., 2020, Stock markets’ reaction to COVID-19: cases or fatalities? Research in International Business and Finance, 54, 101249.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ribaf.2020.101249   Google Scholar

BAKER S.R., BLOOM N., DAVIS S.J., TERRY S.J., 2020a, COVID-induced economic uncertainty, National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper, No. 26983.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3386/w26983   Google Scholar

BAKER S.R., FARROKHNIA R.A., MEYER S., PAGEL M., YANNELIS C., 2020b, How does household spending respond to an epidemic? Consumption during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper, No. 26949.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3386/w26949   Google Scholar

BARTIK A.W., BERTRAND M., CULLEN Z.B., GLAESER E.L., LUCA M., STANTON C.T., 2020, How are small businesses adjusting to COVID-19? Early evidence from a survey, National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper, No. 26989.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3386/w26989   Google Scholar

BOYCE M.R., ATTAL-JUNCQUA A., LIN J., MCKAY S., KATZ R., 2021, Global Fund contributions to health security in ten countries, 2014-20: Mapping synergies between vertical disease programmes and capacities for preventing, detecting, and responding to public health emergencies, The Lancet Global Health, 9(2): e181-e188.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(20)30420-4   Google Scholar

Council of Europe, n.d., Health: Manual for human rights education with young people, https://www.coe.int/en/web/compass/health (20.06.2021).
  Google Scholar

CYLUS J., PAPANICOLAS I., SMITH P.C., 2017a, Using Data Envelopment Analysis to Address the Challenges of Comparing Health System Efficiency, Global Policy, 8(2): 60-68.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12212   Google Scholar

CYLUS J., PAPANICOLAS I., SMITH P.C., 2017b, How to make sense of health system efficiency comparisons? WHO Regional Office for Europe Policy Brief, No. 27.
  Google Scholar

DYAKOVA M., HAMELMANN C., BELLIS M.A., BESNIER E., GREY C.N.B., ASHTON K. et al., 2017, Investment for health and well-being: a review of the social return on investment from public health policies to support implementing the Sustainable Development Goals by building on Health 2020, Health Evidence Network (HEN) synthesis report 51, WHO Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen.
  Google Scholar

EICHENBAUM M., REBELO S., TRABANDT M., 2020, The macroeconomics of epidemics, National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper, No. 26882.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3386/w26882   Google Scholar

Eurostat, 2021, Real GDP growth rate – volume: Percentage change on previous year, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tec00115/default/table?lang=en (28.06.2021).
  Google Scholar

FERRANNINI A., BARBIERI E., BIGGERI M., DITOMMASO M., 2021, Industrial policy for sustainable human development in the post-Covid19 era, World Development, 137: 105215.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105215   Google Scholar

GLOVER A., HEATHCOTE J., KRUEGER D., RIOS-RULL J.V., 2020, Health versus wealth: On the distributional effects of controlling a pandemic, National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper, No. 27046.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21034/sr.600   Google Scholar

GREEN D., LOUALICHE E., 2021, State and local government employment in the COVID-19 crisis, Journal of Public Economics, 193: 104321.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2020.104321   Google Scholar

JONES C.J., PHILIPPON T., VENKATESWARAN V., 2020, Optimal mitigation policies in a pandemic: Social distancing and working from home, National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper, No. 26984.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3386/w26984   Google Scholar

JONES K.E., PATEL N.G., LEVY M.A., STOREYGARD A., BALK D., GITTELMAN J., DASZAK P., 2008, Global trends in emerging infectious diseases, Nature, 451: 990-994.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06536   Google Scholar

John Hopkins University, 2021, Coronavirus Resource Center: Cases and mortality by country, https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality (22.06.2021).
  Google Scholar

KANDEL N., CHUNGONG S., OMAAR A., XING J., 2020, Health security capacities in the context of COVID-19 outbreak: An analysis of International Health Regulations annual report data from 182 countries, Lancet, 395(10229): 1047-1053.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30553-5   Google Scholar

KAPLAN S., LEFLER J., ZILBERMAN D., 2021, The political economy of COVID-19, Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 1-12.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/aepp.13164   Google Scholar

LAL A., ERONDU N.A., HEYMANN D.L., GITAHI G., YATES R., 2021, Fragmented health systems in COVID-19: rectifying the misalignment between global health security and universal health coverage, Health Policy, 397(10268): 61-67.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32228-5   Google Scholar

MACHMUDDAH Z., UTOMO S.D., SUHARTONO E., ALI S., GHULAM A.W., 2020, Stock market reaction to COVID-19: evidence in customer goods sector with the implication for open innovation, Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 6(4): 99.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/joitmc6040099   Google Scholar

MENSI W., SENSOY A., VO X.V., KANG S.H., 2020, Impact of COVID-19 outbreak on asymmetric multifractality of gold and oil prices, Resources Policy, 69, 101829.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2020.101829   Google Scholar

MORENS D.M., FOLKERS G.K., FAUCI A.S., 2004, The challenge of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, Nature, 430: 242-249.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02759   Google Scholar

MORSE S., MAZET J., WOOLHOUSE M., PARRISH C., CARROLL D., KARESH W., ZAMBRANA-TORRELIO C., LIPKIN I., DASZAK P., 2012, Prediction and prevention of the next pandemic zoonosis, Lancet, 380: 1956-1965.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61684-5   Google Scholar

Nuclear Threat Initiative, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, 2019, Global Health Security Index Report, https://www.ghsindex.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2019-Global-Health-Security-Index.pdf.
  Google Scholar

OECD, 2020, Strengthening health systems during a pandemic: The role of development finance, OECD Policy Responses to Coronavirus (COVID-19).
  Google Scholar

OECD, European Union, 2020, Health at a Glance: Europe 2020: State of Health in the EU Cycle, OECD Publishing, Paris.
  Google Scholar

OZKAN O., 2021, Impact of COVID-19 on stock market efficiency: Evidence from developed countries, Research in International Business and Finance, 58:101445.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ribaf.2021.101445   Google Scholar

RAVI S.J., WARMBROD K.L., MULLEN L., MEYER D., CAMERON E. et al., 2020, The value proposition of the Global Health Security Index, BMJ Global Health, 5: e003648.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2020-003648   Google Scholar

REINHARDT U.E., HUSSEY P.S., ANDERSON G., 2002, Cross-National Comparisons of Health Systems Using OECD Data, 1999, Health Affairs, 21(3): 169-181.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.21.3.169   Google Scholar

STOJANOVIĆ-JOVANOVIĆ S., KRSTIĆ B., MARKOVIĆ M., 2020, International Business and Management in Pandemic-Related Conditions, Economics of Sustainable Development, 4(2): 25-36.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5937/ESD2002025S   Google Scholar

STREET A., HAKKINEN U., 2009, Health system productivity and efficiency, Performance measurement for health system improvement: Experiences, challenges and prospects, eds. Smith P.C. et al., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511711800.009   Google Scholar

United Nations, 2020, Human Development Index Ranking, http://hdr.undp.org/en/data (23.06.2021).
  Google Scholar

WEBSTER R.G., 1997, Predictions for future human influenza pandemic, Journal of infectious disease, 176: S14-S19.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/514168   Google Scholar

World Bank, 2020, The Economic and Social Impact of COVID-19: Health systems, Western Balkans Regular Economic Report, 17.
  Google Scholar

World Bank, 2021, Current health expenditure per capita, PPP (current international $), https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.XPD.CHEX.PP.CD.
  Google Scholar

ZHANG D., HU M., JI Q., 2020, Financial markets under the global pandemic of COVID-19, Finance Research Letters, 36: 101528.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.frl.2020.101528   Google Scholar

Download


Published
2022-01-03

Cited by

Rađenović, T., Radivojević, V., Krstić, B., Stanišić, T., & Živković, S. (2022). The Efficiency of Health Systems in Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic: Evidence from the EU Countries. Problemy Ekorozwoju, 17(1), 7–15. https://doi.org/10.35784/pe.2022.1.01

Authors

Tamara Rađenović 
tamara.radjenovic@znrfak.ni.ac.rs
Faculty of Occupational Safety, University of Niš Serbia
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1632-7772

Authors

Vladimir Radivojević 

Faculty of Economics, University of Priština in Kosovska Mitrovica Serbia
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3928-0623

Authors

Bojan Krstić 

Faculty of Economics, University of Niš Serbia
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4597-6819

Authors

Tanja Stanišić 

Faculty of Hotel Management and Tourism in Vrnjačka Banja, University of Kragujevac Serbia
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5809-794X

Authors

Snežana Živković 

Faculty of Occupational Safety, University of Niš Serbia
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7931-9334

Statistics

Abstract views: 57
PDF downloads: 42