As COVID-19 continues to spread, governments face a critical decision: whether to prioritise the economy or the lives of the people. In attempting to address this question, four frameworks are essential: the utilitarian, scarcity-based, duty-based and Rawlsian approach. The principle that, as Thomas Jefferson puts it, “the care of human life and happiness is the first and only object of good government” will be adopted … Continue reading Is maintaining the economy a fair trade for lives?

Today it takes only 40 hours to circumnavigate the world by plane, 40 days by boat and 346 days by foot. This is an era of unparalleled human movement and interaction. People, products and capital travel the world with unprecedented quantity and speed, as do countless disease-causing microorganisms. However, this connectivity paradoxically can help to prevent and control the severity and emergence of such diseases. … Continue reading The Impact of Globalisation on Pandemics

The coronavirus pandemic, and the ensuing economic crisis, has provoked unprecedented responses from policy makers, no more so than from central banks. The Federal Reserve’s major actions include purchasing up to $750 billion of investment-grade corporate debt and lowering its discount window rate to 1.5% – lower than it ever was in the GFC. This makes the Fed’s additional pledge to buy $700 billion in … Continue reading Lessons from the crash and today’s trends in Western monetary policy

“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps the end of the beginning”. These famous words delivered by Winston Churchill after the defeat of the Germans at Alamein in 1942, marked a turning point in WWII. Such words would be apt today in the “world war” against COVID-19. The first phase of the shock is … Continue reading Has Covid-19 let the MMT genie out of the bottle?

Has the coronavirus proven the existence of the magic money tree? Theresa May, in response to an NHS nurse who hadn’t received a pay rise in eight years, asserted that “there isn’t a magic money tree” during a 2017 election special of Question Time; on the 20th of March 2020, Rishi Sunak introduced the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme that is estimated to cost around £78bn, … Continue reading Modern Monetary Theory Revisited