The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Economies of European Countries in the Period January–September 2020 Based on Economic Indicators

Nojszewska, E.; Sielska, A.

SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, causing the COVID-19 disease, reached Europe in early 2020 and quickly spread on the continent. Both the disease itself and the preventive measures introduced by governments lead to a restriction of economic activity. The beginning of the third quarter of 2020 is the time when some of European economies have already experienced the first wave of cases, and many restrictions have already been lifted. On the other hand with the end of this quarter, the number of cases is still growing meaning second wave and further limiting of economic activities. The study analyses the similarities of European countries in terms of the following indicators: Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) and Employment Expectations Indicator (EEI) from the beginning of 2020. The obtained results are compared with the course of the pandemic in the studied countries. Ward’s method was used in the analysis. Results show that after the collapse in March/April, the values of variables reflecting condition of economies started to increase in most of identified groups of countries. There are very little similarities between the countries with respect to changes in indicators and the course of the pandemic. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.