Stakeholder Capitalism

10Communities

New Zealand during the COVID-19 Crisis

In the early weeks of March 2020, New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her cabinet ministers faced a major dilemma. They could either implement a strict lockdown of the country to try and stop the spread of the novel coronavirus or keep the economy open in an effort to avoid a steep recession. At the outset, it seemed like a classic no-win situation; there would be losses to either New Zealand lives or livelihoods—probably both. As a remote island nation with a strong health care system, New Zealand did have a better chance than most to withstand the virus without draconian measures. But at the same time, the country was alarmed by the situation in countries such as Italy and Iran, where the uncontrolled spread of the virus had led to dramatic consequences for both public health and the economy. Which policy approach would lead to the lesser of two evils for New Zealand?

One advantage Ardern and her government had was that they could draw on some early lessons from elsewhere. The virus had first been observed in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. Once it started to spread in other parts of China, by early 2020, it quickly became clear this was an extremely contagious and possibly very deadly virus. By February, the novel coronavirus had embarked on an exponential international growth path. The rest of the world was about to realize just how severe the pandemic would turn out to be. As COVID-19 spread, first in Asian countries ...