Analysis and comparison of the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the size of the public sector in the countries of the European Union

Magistrsko delo obravnava primerjavo velikosti javnega sektorja v državah članicah Evropske unije pred pandemijo covid-19 in med njo. V teoretičnem delu so opredeljeni Evropska unija in njeno delovanje. V drugem delu so predstavljeni pandemija covid-19, njene ekonomske in socialne posledice, ukrepi za reševanje posledic in obseg pandemije. V tretjem sklopu teorije so obravnavani in predstavljeni javni sektor s fiskalnega in institucionalnega vidika, njegovo delovanje, velikost in rast javnega sektorja ter njegovo merjenje. V empiričnem delu magistrskega dela so z uporabo statističnih metod, preverjene tri postavljene hipoteze. Od treh hipotez smo lahko v celoti potrdili le prvo, drugo smo zavrnili in tretjo delno potrdili z vidika javnih izdatkov v BDP. Ključne ugotovitve magistrskega dela so, da je pandemija covid-19 imela močan pozitiven vpliv na velikost javnega sektorja v državah članicah EU, da obseg pandemije covid-19 z vidika števila umrlih in števila okuženih ni imel nobenega vpliva na velikost javnega sektorja v državah članicah EU ter da se je delež zaposlenih v javnem sektorju v državah EU v povprečju bolj povečal v starih državah članicah EU, medtem ko se je delež javnih izdatkov v BDP zaposlenih v povprečju bolj povečal v novih državah članicah.The master\u27s thesis deals with the comparison of the size of the public sector in the member states of the European Union before the covid-19 pandemic and during the pandemic. The theoretical part defined the European Union and its operation. The second part presented the covid-19 pandemic. In the third part the public sector was discussed and presented from a fiscal and institutional point of view, its operation, the size and growth of the public sector. In the empirical part of the master\u27s thesis, three hypotheses were tested using statistical methods. Of the three hypotheses, we could fully confirm only the first, we rejected the second and partially confirmed the third from the point of view of public expenditures in GDP. The key findings of the master\u27s thesis are that the covid-19 pandemic had a strong positive impact on the size of the public sector in the EU member states, that the extent of the covid-19 pandemic is seen through the aspects of the number of deaths and the number of infected had no effect on the size of the public sector in EU member states and that the share of public sector employees in EU countries increased on average more in the old EU member states, while on average, the share of employed public expenditure in GDP increased more in the new member states