| Abstract [eng] |
This work analyses the first year of the pandemic (March 2020 - March 2021) in Lithuania and Slovenia in order to assess labour market and economic growth trends using theoretical models of the Varieties of Capitalism (VoC). The main question that is raised in this work is whether the differences in the first years of the pandemic in Lithuania and Slovenia can be explained on the basis of the models proposed by the Varieties of Capitalism. In addition, the aim was to understand whether comparing changes in the labour market during this and the global financial crisis could be explained on the basis of the statements of the theory of the Varieties of Capitalism. The main tasks of the work: to single out the essential theoretical statements of the Varieties of Capitalism; to adapt them to Lithuania and Slovenia, determining the model to which they belong; to compare the public policy measures used in the first years of the COVID-19 pandemic; to analyse labour market and economic growth trends in the first years of the COVID-19 pandemic; draw conclusions, make recommendations. Three hypotheses were put forward in this work: H1: Unemployment jump in Lithuania was higher than in Slovenia, because Lithuania belongs to the Liberal Market Economy model, Slovenia - to the Coordinated Market Economy model. H2: The unemployment jump in Lithuania during the COVID-19 pandemic was smaller than during the Global Financial Crisis, as the current crisis is more favourable to the countries of the Liberal Market Economy model. H3: Lithuania's lower economic contraction at the beginning of 2020 was due to belonging to the Liberal Market Economy model, Slovenia's higher economic recovery in the second half of 2020 was due to belonging to the Coordinated Market Economy model. The study found that Lithuania is a Liberal Market Economy and Slovenia is a Coordinated Market Economy. The analysis of public policy measures did not reveal any significant differences: the governments of both countries applied measures aimed at preserving the income of the population, preserving jobs, and ensuring the liquidity of businesses. Analysing the labour market trends, it was noticed that unemployment in Lithuania grew faster and more, but the figures are much lower than 15 years ago, when the Global Financial Crisis took place. The faster growth was explained by belonging to the Liberal Market Economy model, while the lower jump in unemployment was explained by the favourable nature of the crisis in favour of the Liberal Market Economy model. Analysing economic growth trends, Lithuania's economy contracted less, due to a flexible market economy, the ability to operate flexibly in the labour market and adapt to the specifics of the crisis, the contraction was minimal, but Slovenia, as a Coordinated Market Economy, recovered faster in in the summer of 2020, because of the global industry, which has recovered rapidly, especially due to the processes that have taken place in China. Thus, it was finally assessed that all three hypotheses were confirmed. In summary, three recommendations for future research are suggested: •Firstly, in the context of the Varieties of Capitalism, it would be relevant to take a broader view of the Central and Eastern European region, where states in recent years have been largely recognized as developed by international organizations (with rare exceptions). •Secondly, as discussed in the academic discussion, it is interesting to see why the Varieties of Capitalism cannot explain the low level of vaccination in Slovenia, although vaccination itself should be important for Coordinated Market Economy countries to succeed in community and coordination. •Thirdly, a broader analysis of the countries that are part of the Liberal Market Economy and Coordinated Market Economy models could be carried out to see if the findings can be applied in a broader context than just the selected cases. |
