An assessment of the Swedish health system's efficiency during the Covid-19 pandemic

Countries' success in managing the Covid-19 pandemic was independent of their level of education or development and institutional quality. Similarly, different provinces in countries performed differently as compared to their neighboring provinces and the country. This study assesses the efficiency of Sweden's different municipalities in managing the Covid-19 pandemic. Its aim is determining whether the relative efficiency of Sweden's primary healthcare system during the Covid-19 pandemic was different in different in regions and whether the regions can learn from each other to improve their efficiency in the provision of healthcare in the future. Performance is measured as efficiency in keeping the number of infected cases and deaths low. We use a data envelopment analysis for measuring efficiency. Variations in the level of efficiency are attributed to the differences in the municipalities' demography, population concentration, economic and industrial structures, labor markets, geographic locations, and national and local policies during the pandemic. The empirical part is based on a panel of the population of 290 Swedish municipalities observed on a weekly basis during April 2020 to February 2021. The results show large variations in municipalities' performance that can, to some extent, be attributed to their observable socioeconomic, locational, and demographic characteristics.

Automated summary

The success of countries in managing the Covid-19 pandemic is unrelated to their level of education, development, and institutional quality. Similarly, different provinces within countries have different performances in comparison to their neighboring provinces. This study evaluates the efficiency of Sweden's municipalities in managing the pandemic and explores whether these regions can learn from each other to improve healthcare provision efficiency in the future.