Clark Center Forum

The IGM is administering this new survey on the outlook for the economy in collaboration with fivethirtyeight.com. The FiveThirtyEight/IGM COVID-19 Economic Outlook survey complements the existing IGM expert panels and is being overseen by Professors Allan Timmermann and Jonathan Wright. The list of experts answering the questions is identified in the post along with the […] 

Raghuram Rajan Although the COVID-19 pandemic has shown why high-level coordination is sometimes necessary for managing emergencies, it has also underscored the risks of placing too much power in the hands of an incompetent central authority. The best approach is a middle path, with a slight bias in favor of decentralization. Read more> 

Agnès Bénassy-Quéré and Beatrice Weder di Mauro After a period of hesitation, governments in Europe have reacted forcefully to the Covid-19 pandemic with various strategies combining social distancing, testing/quarantining, and lockdowns. During a pandemic, however, coordination is key, and in responding to the current crisis European coordination has proved as painful as ever. A new […] 

Marianne Bertrand et al The COVID-19 pandemic is imposing uneven economic and health burdens on different communities in Illinois. Until a vaccine or effective therapy is available, intensive testing and monitoring of the disease will be necessary to prevent community spread and facilitate economic reopening. Unfortunately, existing inequities are likely to inhibit these efforts by […] 

This week’s IGM European Economic Experts Panel statements on the Prices of Medical Supplies 

This week’s IGM Economic Experts Panel statements on Stimulus and Stabilizers 

This week’s IGM European Economic Experts Panel statements:

A) Clearing the market for surgical face masks using prices is detrimental to the public good.

B) Laws to prevent high prices for essential goods in short supply in a crisis would raise social welfare.

C) Governments should buy essential medical supplies at what would have been the market price and redistribute according to need rather than ability to pay. 

This week’s IGM Economic Experts Panel statements:

A) Assuming that additional federal spending were to be structured as in the CARES Act, a substantial further spending program now will ultimately be less costly than a smaller program because it will better help to avoid long-term economic damage and promote a stronger recovery.

B) Having a fiscal rule that increases social spending on programs like unemployment insurance and SNAP based on the conditions of the economy would be an improvement on the discretionary way in which these programs are currently operated. 

Pinelopi Goldberg To those already predisposed to favor domestic production over international trade, the COVID-19 pandemic seems like a case in point. Yet a closer look at the facts shows that, if anything, the current crisis offers powerful evidence of why we need global supply chains and widely distributed production. Read more> 

Barry Eichengreen The economic crisis that has befallen emerging and developing economies is being treated as temporary, with a moratorium on interest payments and a promise of commercial credits remaining valid only through the end of the year. In other words, the policy response is woefully inadequate to these countries’ situation. Read more>