Restoring or transforming the economy? How institutional actors in Germany and Italy framed COVID-19 economic policies

COVID-19 has deeply affected the economy in Europe and worldwide. We investigate how key institutional actors – ministries, trade associations, and trade unions – made sense of the economic relief policies adopted from the crisis outbreak to its containment. We compare Italy and Germany as two contrasting cases, characterised by varying economic conditions prior to the crisis and differing capacities to cushion their economic impact. Twitter/X textual data is analysed with computational methods to identify restorative or transformative framings of policies adopted. In both countries and across all actors, restorative framings dominated in the early phase of the pandemic. The German debate, however, soon shifted towards transformative modes, focusing on ecological and digital transitions. By contrast, the Italian debate adopted a more transformative framing only later, aligning with the goals of the EU NextGeneration funding programme. Our findings demonstrate that transformative and restorative framings of economic measures can coexist, varying according to the contexts of the crisis, interests and institutional roles of actors in the political economy. Tracing this variety of framings against the uncertainty caused by COVID-19 is fundamental to understanding the actions taken and collaboration of social partners toward the common goal of post-pandemic reconstruction.