Today, our Director Dr Adina Claici will discuss “State Aid in times of crisis” at the State Aid virtual conference, organised by Informa Connect where Copenhagen Economics is a sponsor.

The economic decline, due to the COVID-19 crisis, is non-contestable and neither is the need for state aid to support European economies.

However, we have seen a heterogeneous picture across EU Member States in terms of intensity of aid, which ranged from more than 30% to less than 1% of GDP. Although not intentional, these divergences may lead to significant distortions in competition in Europe. In order to minimize tensions, policy makers have to make sure aid is targeted and proportional to the damage suffered.

When choosing the optimal level of intervention, they have to make difficult choices and balance delicate trade-offs between efficiency and equity.

Economic analysis plays an important role in designing various options for intervention and quantifying the pros and cons of each one for different stakeholders in the economy.

Read more about the conference
For further information, please contact Director Dr Adina Claici