Last week at the American Economic Association meetings, held online, many papers focused on Covid-19. A good example was the session organized by Dominick Salvatore which included Jan Eberly, Raghu Rajan, Carmen Reinhart, Joe Stiglitz, Larry Summers, and me. Most papers focused on the economic policy impact of the Coronavirus. I focused the “supply side” policies rather than on the “demand side” policies. 

An article from nearly five years ago by one of Harvard Law School’s Vice Deans and former U.S. trade negotiator on how the PRC’s economic structure and the system of international trade law under the WTO are not compatible.

by Mark Wu

The world economy will be exiting the pandemic weighed down by much bigger debts and increased inequality that could hobble growth in the longer term.

A move toward socialist, government-centered economic systems in the United States, as proposed by the political left, would require a substantial increase in government resources, which could only be brought about through significant increases in tax revenue. According to data from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (figure 1), the US government spent 38 percent of GDP in 2019, placing it above countries such as Ireland (25 percent), Chile (26 percent), Korea (30 percent), and Switzerland (34 percent), but significantly below most OECD nations. The countries that top the list are France (56 percent), Finland (53 percent), and Belgium (52 percent).