Government Financial Management and the Coronavirus Pandemic: A Comparative Look at South Korea and the United States

• Published date: 01 August 2020
• DOI: 10.1177/0275074020941720
• Date: 01 August 2020
• Author: Sungho Park,Craig S. Maher
• Subject Matter: Public Management Opportunities & Challenges in the Era of COVID-19Financial Management in an Unprecedented Time

https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074020941720

American Review of Public Administration

2020, Vol. 50(6-7) 590 –597

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0275074020941720

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Financial Management in an Unprecedented Time

Introduction: The Coronavirus

Pandemic and Government Financial

Management

In December 2019, doctors and health officials in Taiwan

warned that the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) could spread

throughout the world as it was transmittable between humans

(Riordan et al., 2020). On March 11, 2020, the virus was

officially called a pandemic by the World Health Organization

(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2020b).

According to researchers at Johns Hopkins University, as of

June 2, 2020, the world has more than six million confirmed

cases and a death toll exceeding 376,000 (Johns Hopkins

University, 2020). Worldwide, governments at the national

and subnational levels across countries have been imple-

menting measures to combat COVID-19, including health,

medical, economic, and welfare policies. Fiscal policies have

been an important part of these efforts as they identify the

means by which governments financially support their

response policies, be that medical, social, or economic.

This study examines responses to COVID-19 from a gov-

ernment financial management perspective. Government

financial management in this study refers to the management

of government resources (Reed & Swain, 1996) and encom-

passes revenues, spending mechanisms, intergovernmental

relations, and short-term and long-term fiscal capacity and

liabilities. We are particularly interested in answering the

question, “How does each country’s financial management

system support its fiscal responses to COVID-19?” Addressing

this question is essential to practice for several reasons: It can

help government officials make informed decisions to suit

their fiscal contexts while this outbreak continues, and it may

help government fiscal preparedness and responses to future

crises be that economic (recessions) or natural disasters.

This study takes a comparative approach to this question

by focusing on South Korea and the United States. The two

countries offer comparative insights, given that public offi-

cials responded to the outbreak in both similar and different

941720ARPXXX10.1177/0275074020941720The American Review of Public AdministrationPark and Maher

research-article2020

1The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, USA

2University of Nebraska Omaha, USA

Corresponding Author:

Sungho Park, Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Administration,

Department of Political Science, The University of Alabama, Box 870213,

Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA.

Email: sungho.park@ua.edu

Government Financial Management and

the Coronavirus Pandemic:

A Comparative Look at South Korea

and the United States

Sungho Park1 and Craig S. Maher2

Abstract

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is an infectious respiratory illness afflicting people to a degree not seen since the flu

pandemic of 1968 when approximately one million lives were lost worldwide. What makes COVID-19 distinct is the rate at

which it spread throughout the world, stress-testing health care systems and stymieing global economies. To confront this

unprecedented crisis, nearly every country has been developing a wide range of policy responses, including fiscal measures.

This study aims to discuss government fiscal responses to the pandemic from a financial management perspective. The core

question is, “How does each country’s financial management system support its fiscal responses to the crisis?” We are

particularly interested in reexamining commonly accepted norms about fiscal federalism and the fiscal condition of national

and local governments heading into this pandemic. This study takes a comparative approach to the question, focusing on

South Korea and the United States. Our findings suggest that the ability to respond to this pandemic in a comprehensive and

effective manner is challenged by each nation’s financial management system that generates variation in policy coordination

and responsiveness.

Keywords

COVID-19, government financial management, fiscal federalism, South Korea, United States