Countries’ readiness to deal with large-scale crises: analysis, measure, and World classification

A country’s preparedness to face crises is a multidimensional competence that depends on several attributes (economic factors, governance features, infrastructure and institutional endowments). This paper proposes a new approach to rank countries based on their degree of preparedness to deal with large-scale crises. The measured characteristics of countries have made it possible to compile an index of preparedness to face shocks and, therefore, predict their performance against the COVID-19 health crisis to verify the relevance of the proposed composite index. Fortunately, it appears that countries with a high degree of preparedness according to our aggregate index were able to respond adequately and effectively to this crisis. This is reflected in a lower mortality rate and more administered tests.