Economists Exchange

Economists Exchange

Covid-19 has wrought colossal changes in the global economy. In this monthly series, leading FT commentators hold in-depth, solutions-focused conversations with the world’s top economists about what the face of a recovery will look like in the weeks, months and years to come

© Leonie Woods

• Larry Summers: ‘The destabilisation wrought by British errors will not be confined to Britain’

  The former US Treasury secretary delivers his verdict on a fiscal statement that sent markets spinning

  
• Agustín Carstens: ‘It’s very important central banks let people know what is happening’

  The Bank for International Settlements chief warns that persistent price rises and tightening labour markets will fuel high inflation

  
• Christopher Pissarides: ‘Debt and inflation could see us lose control’

  The Nobel laureate argues that policymakers cannot tackle social problems by running the economy hot

  
• Olivier Blanchard: ‘There’s a tendency for markets to focus on the present and extrapolate it forever’

  The macroeconomist argues that the current situation is a bump but that we will return to very low real interest rates and the same problems we had before

  
• Branko Milanovic: ‘The forces of self-interest and technology cannot be undone’

  Inequality may have stopped rising in big countries, but what happens to global inequality now depends on Africa

  
• Flavio Toxvaerd: ‘We can’t tackle Covid unless economists and epidemiologists talk to each other’

  Missteps such as the UK’s ‘Eat out to Help Out’ scheme show how closely managing the pandemic and boosting the economy are linked

  

More from this Series

• Nick Bloom: ‘It is becoming pretty clear now that hybrid working is here to stay’

  The Stanford professor argues that the revolution in homeworking could usher in a new era of globalisation in services

  
• Partha Dasgupta: ‘It’s not a giant step to introduce nature into economics’

  The Cambridge professor says macroeconomic forecasts do not account for ‘violent’ damage to ecosystems

  
• Jeffrey Sachs: ‘I see no financial obstacles to getting to net zero by 2050’

  With COP26 looming, the expert in sustainable development explains how we can have both decarbonisation and robust growth

  
• Bart van Ark: ‘Productivity is done by the private sector’

  With global supply chains under strain, the head of the UK’s Productivity Institute explains how to revive economic performance

  
• Heather Boushey: ‘The guardrails have come off the US economy’

  The senior economic adviser to Joe Biden discusses how the system needs fundamental reform to work for the middle class

  
• Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee: ‘Ours is a social science’

  The Nobel laureates call for better economic ‘plumbing’ after the pandemic and warn about inaction over climate change

  
• Glenn Hubbard: ‘The economy needs more than neoliberal medicine’

  The Columbia economics professor says that Reaganism has to be rethought — but Biden’s approach does not add up

  
• Larry Summers: ‘I’m concerned that what is being done is substantially excessive’

  Former treasury secretary criticises the scale of Biden’s fiscal policy and warns it could lead to overheating and wasted resources

  
• Philip Lane: ‘We have a unique initiative in Europe now — it is really quite something’

  The ECB’s chief economist says the EU recovery fund has revised beliefs about the durability and resilience of the euro area

  
• Dani Rodrik: ‘We are in a chronic state of shortage of good jobs’

  The Harvard economist warns that looming disruptions from technology could overshadow those of globalisation and further strengthen far-right politics

  
• Kristalina Georgieva: ‘We are in a resilient place but cannot take stability for granted’

  The IMF chief calls for global co-operation to support health systems and limit the damage of economic scarring

  
• Andy Haldane: ‘All crises open up opportunities to think afresh’

  The Bank of England’s chief economist calls on policymakers to jolt companies towards fairer, more productive ways of working

  
• Raghuram Rajan: ‘Society has to find a new equilibrium’

  In the first of a series, the former Indian central banker explains why the solution to economic adversity is to strengthen local communities

  
• Gita Gopinath: ‘Fiscal policy plays an essential role in recovery’

  The IMF’s chief economist says governments must prioritise health spending and scaling up solutions to end the pandemic