Economic and Social Crisis Responses in Multi-Level Systems: Does Intergovernmental Coordination Matter?

During crises such as COVD-19, intergovernmental coordination is widely regarded as crucial for successful crisis responses in multilevel systems. To examine how intergovernmental coordination shapes crisis responses in multilevel systems, we compare the economic and social measures during the COVID-19 pandemic in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom. By analysing economic and social measures during the COVID-19 pandemic, the paper seeks to generate insights on crisis responses in multilevel systems that apply beyond pandemics to other crises such as financial and economic shocks. The paper shows that the success of crisis measures does not necessarily depend on whether they are strongly coordinated or not coordinated at all. However, weak coordination makes a difference, resulting in lower levels of accountability, efficacy, and effectiveness.