Governments Softened Coronavirus’ Economic Impact. Now Too Many Have Pandemic Fatigue
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republican senators during a news conference to highlight their proposal for a coronavirus stimulus bill, Washington, July 27, 2020 (AP photo by Susan Walsh).
Governments Acted Fast to Save the Economy. Now Too Many Have Pandemic Fatigue
Early this year, when the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic were beginning to sink in, the governments and monetary authorities of the world’s largest economies were challenged to respond. To prevent the worst from occurring, economic rescue packages needed to meet three key criteria from the time-tested, crisis-fighting playbook: speed, size and sustainability.
At the time, the policy responses could only be judged on the first two of those characteristics. On both counts, they scored quite well. Collectively, from the United States to Europe to Japan, policymakers’ efforts to address the economic fallout of the pandemic were impressive and historic in both the swiftness of their implementation and in the scale of their fiscal and monetary response. ...