The Unequal Costs of Covid-19 on Well-being in Europe

This volume focuses on the wider wellbeing costs within European countries as a result of the outbreak of the pandemic and the control measures implemented thereafter. In particular, it considers to what extent Covid-19 and measures taken to cope with the crisis have weakened economic and social structures across Europe and what effect this has had on people’s lives. While many countries in Europe have reallocated public funding to health care, provided support to SMEs, vulnerable populations and regions hit by the crisis, the wellbeing or welfare costs, considered broadly, are still significant. The authors' assessment thus goes beyond the subjective wellbeing discourse and evaluates to what extent structural weaknesses within economic, social and regional frameworks have deepened. The chapters discuss what policies are needed to address these weaknesses. the volume thus recognises that structural inequalities are a key driver of wellbeing. While there have been a number of publications on wellbeing during the pandemic, the original perspective in each chapter on inequalities and the European focus of this publication provide novel information and insights on the topic.  

- 1. Introduction. - Part I The Economic Impact of Covid-19. - 2. Building Back Worse? The Prognosis for Health Equity in the Post-pandemic World. - 3. The Economic Repercussions of Covid-19 and Well-Being in Georgia. - 4. What Impact Has the Pandemic Had on the Well-Being of Workers in Germany?. - 5. Covid-19 and Well-Being Policies in Ireland. A Preliminary Study with a Focus on Young People. - Part II The Impact of Covid-19 on Education. - 6. Challenges to Higher Education at the Start of the Pandemic with a Comparative Focus on the UK and Hong Kong. - 7. Mental Health and Well-being During Covid-19 Forced Distance Learning Period: Good and Bad News from Polish Studies. - 8. Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on the Well-being of Children with Disabilities and their Parents in Azerbaijan. - Part III Health Inequalities and the Pandemic. - 9. Lessons Learned by Health Professionalsand Good Practices in Relation with Population Well-being Across Europe. - 10. The Well-being of Marginalized Migrants in Europe During the Covid-19 Epidemic: Evidence from France, Sweden, and the UK. - 11. Afterword: Tackling Inequalities After the Covid Crisis.

Louise Dalingwater is full professor of British politics at Sorbonne Université. Her current research focuses on health policy, healthcare delivery and wellbeing in the United Kingdom, with some comparative research on European health systems (notably, France) and global health policy research. Her recent publications include a book on the UK service economy, a monograph on the NHS and several book chapters and articles on wellbeing and health. She has co-edited two publications on wellbeing: Wellbeing: Challenging the Anglo-Saxon Hegemony (Presses Sorbonne Nouvelle, 2017) and Wellbeing: Political Discourse and Policy in the Anglosphere (Papers in Political Economy, 2019). She is part of the Precision Health network (an international research project led by the Universities of Lund and Malmo in Sweden). She is also Chair of the Health Wellness and Society research network based in Illinois, United States.

Iside Costantini is an associate professor in British Politics at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University, Paris. She completed a PhD in 2009 on 19th century exchanges between Great Britain and South China (Hong Kong, Canton, Shanghai). She has an interest in Sino-British relations from the 19th to the 21st centuries, including comparative approaches in wellbeing policies. She had contributed a chapter, “Confucianism Promoted as an Alternative to the Anglo-Saxon Social-Cultural Model” in Wellbeing - Challenging the Anglo-Saxon Hegemony (Presses Sorbonne Nouvelle, 2017) and has coedited an online volume Wellbeing: Political Discourse and Policy in the Anglosphere (Papers in Political Economy, 2019). 

Vanessa Boullet is an associate professor at the University of Lorraine. Her research focuses on Irish studies, and on the interactions between economy, society and politics. Her thesis entitled "Planning in Ireland (1958-1972), methodologies and mythology of economic modernisation" was awarded the Prix Richelieu by the Chancellerie des Universités de Paris in 2009. She is interested in the impact of multinationals on the Irish economy and its uneven development. She also tries to develop research in business and foreign languages departments in France and she is a member of the editorial board of the journal Revue International des Langues Appliquées Etrangères.

Paul Gibbs is Emeritus Professor of Middlesex University and founder of the Centre for Education Research and Scholarship, visiting professor at UTS Sydney and Azerbaijan and East European Universities. He is a fellow of ATLAS (Texas University) and of the Centre for Higher Education Policy, New College Oxford. He is an educator and researcher, having taught notions of transdisciplinarity alongside social realism and Heideggerian hermeneutics, and has over thirty successful transdisciplinary professional doctorate students. He has published over twenty peer reviewed books on topics ranging from the marketing of higher education to vocationalism and higher education, and has published more than one hundred academic articles and chapters. He is also the series editor of Springer Briefs on Key Thinkers in Education.