Clark Center Forum

Eric Budish This note suggests that we view R < 1 as an economic constraint, allowing social welfare in the traditional sense (economic activity, societal well-being) to be the policy objective. This formulation highlights two key questions at the intersection of health and economics research in response to the Covid-19 crisis. First, what activities maximize […] 

Jonathan Dingel and Brent Neiman Evaluating the economic impact of “social distancing” measures taken to arrest the spread of COVID-19 raises a number of fundamental questions about the modern economy: How many jobs can be performed at home? What share of total wages are paid to such jobs? How does the scope for working from […] 

Alberto Alesina and Francesco Giavazzi The virus will increase tensions between the thrifty North and the looser South; it may also offer an opportunity to take the EU to a higher level. Read more> 

Raghuram Rajan As the world’s most advanced economies buckle under the strain of the coronavirus pandemic, Chicago Booth’s Raghuram G. Rajan looks ahead to how those in emerging markets will cope with the virus if they begin to experience greater numbers of cases. Watch video> 

Neale Mahoney Over the coming weeks, we will see many policy arguments, and often they will be couched in the language of economic trade-offs. While there are real economic trade-offs, and economists should participate in debates about them, we should also be on the lookout for politicians dressing up bad ideas in such language—and call […] 

Markus Brunnermeier and Arvind Krishnamurthy The usual policy dos-and-don’ts are reversed during the COVID19 crisis. The objective of policy should be to promote evergreening of loans to carry business, especially small businesses, through their liquidity shortfall. The existing productive structure just needs to be kept alive until the point where the COVID19-pause lifts. Read more> 

Olivier Blanchard The motto for fiscal policy these days is: “Whatever it takes,” and it is indeed the right motto. But what does it mean? What about the specifics? And can we really afford it? Or will we wake up in a few months with a hangover, asking ourselves, “What on earth did we do?” […] 

Nicholas Bloom et al We are still months away from confidently gauging COVID-19’s impact on output growth. But the latest wave of results from the Survey of Business Uncertainty indicates that firms are bracing for a huge negative impact on their businesses. The results also say that the outlook deteriorated rapidly over the past two […] 

Beatrice Weder di Mauro How can euro area countries work together to protect their economies? A diverse group of economists has suggested the creation of an emergency Covid credit line. CEPR President Beatrice Weder di Mauro tells Tim Phillips how it would work. Watch video> 

Alberto Alesina There have been more than 80,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and more than 8,000 deaths in Italy. Will its economy and political system be strong enough to withstand this shock, and how can policy — domestic and European — help? Watch video>