Published in a manual on energy and economic growth, the article analyzes the economic impacts of Covid-19

As a result of the postdoctoral research in energy transition, green economy, and bioeconomy by Professor Valny Giacomelli Sobrinho from the Department of Economics and International Relations at UFSM, the international cooperation agreement between UFSM and the University of South Bohemia (USB) in the Czech Republic celebrates its 5th anniversary with a new publication. Authored by Valny himself (coordinator of the agreement for UFSM), Professor Eva Cudlínová (Czech coordinator), and Drs. Roman Buchtele and Nikola Sagapova, both from USB, the chapter titled “Pandemic or Climate Economics? Weathering the Trade-Off between Health and Wealth” is part of the “Handbook on Energy and Economic Growth“, published simultaneously in the United Kingdom and the USA in July this year by Edward Elgar Publishing.

Through the combination of an epidemiological model (the McKendrick-Kermack model) and a bioeconomic model (the Verhulst logistic model), the economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic are assessed to determine the critical points of each economy throughout the course of the contagion. In analyzing the cases of Brazil and the Czech Republic, two alternative hypotheses about the performance of the economies and the health policies adopted are considered: (a) the richer the economy, the healthier its population – a hypothesis considered by the Human Development Index; (b) the healthier the population, the richer the economy – a hypothesis underlying the health policies implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic. Additionally, it was investigated how much each of these hypotheses contributed (or not) to reducing carbon emissions or increasing energy efficiency.

Original publication: https://www.ufsm.br/2024/08/08/publicacao-celebra-os-cinco-anos-de-acordo-de-cooperacao-entre-ufsm-e-universidade-tcheca