Author(s)

Ruichao Huang

Corresponding Author

Ruichao Huang

ABSTRACT

Informatization and the management of epidemics go hand-in-hand. The COVID-19 outbreak has wreaked havoc on both individual health and the global economy. Yet, informatization is changing as altered the tools available for a government response. Informatization shows three common characteristics—an increasing number of information dissemination platforms, the emergence of online services, and big data collection and analysis. This paper contrasts economics entities’ variegated reactions to the COVID-19 outbreak with those of previous epidemics due to informatization. Although the epidemic still damages the global economy via pathways such as limiting international transportation, informatization provides economic entities with more means to mitigate the damages and recover quickly: customers use online services to eliminate implicit costs and shift their preferences; firms build customers’ loyalty by analysing bit data and change labour demand preferences according to their business demands; governments enact suitable policies like releasing online voucher payments to jumpstart the economy.

KEYWORDS

COVID-19, informatization, economic entities