The Pandemic’s Economic Lessons
DANIEL SUSSKIND, a fellow in economics at Balliol
College, Oxford University, notes:
“The Second World War catalyzed a shift in women’s
treatment in the labor market, and this crisis may similarly force us to
address another working-world flaw: the gap between the great social value of
so many jobs, and the comparatively small market value (in the form of a
salary) that they receive. In Britain, for instance, labeling doctors, nurses,
care workers, social workers, teachers, criminal lawyers, and others as “key workers”
betrays a two-fold irony: Though these roles are key (and have been for some
time), that status is in many cases not reflected in their pay; and some of
them are precisely the sorts of so-called low-skilled workers that post-Brexit
immigration controls would keep out. In some countries, narrowing this gap will
be easier: In the U.K., for instance, the state is the main employer for these
particular jobs. It could swiftly narrow the difference between their social
value and their market value, should it want to.”
Why many ‘essential’ workers get paid so little,
according to experts
The concept of supply and demand loomed large in most
of their answers.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/06/why-do-so-many-essential-workers-get-paid-so-little-heres-what-economists-have-say/
“The essential workers harvest our food and stock our
grocery shelves. They fulfill orders at warehouses and deliver goods all over
the country. They drive our buses, gas our cars and keep our streets clean.
They watch our children and care for us when we fall ill.
They also happen to be among the lowest-paid workers
in the country. So why the disconnect? And, conversely, why are relatively
nonessential jobs in such fields as entertainment and finance so
well-compensated?”The Coronavirus Is Transforming Politics and Economics
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-coronavirus-is-transforming-politics-and-economics
John Cassidy notes:
“… the record shows that lethal pandemics and major wars can both have enormous political and economic consequences. In his 2017 opus “The Great Leveler,” Walter Scheidel, a Stanford historian, described them as two of the “four horsemen” that have flattened economic inequality throughout human history. (The other two levelling forces that Scheidel identified were revolutions and state failures.) By decimating the population of medieval Europe, the Black Death made labor scarce, which raised wages and undermined the feudal system. The Civil War abolished slavery and gave rise to the Homestead Act of 1862. The First World War changed the role of women in the economy and paved the way for their political emancipation. The Second World War elevated the role of labor unions and led to the explicit adoption of Keynesian full-employment policies, through the 1946 Employment Act. In Europe, it facilitated the creation of a postwar welfare state, including the National Health Service in Britain”.
Related:
https://soundcloud.com/projectsyndicate/what-history-can-teach-us-about-covid-19-frank-snowden
Related:
https://soundcloud.com/projectsyndicate/what-history-can-teach-us-about-covid-19-frank-snowden
“The world has entered this pandemic with two
challenges. It is awash in debt — government and private. With a total global
gross domestic product of $90 trillion, public and private debt add up to $260
trillion. The world’s two leading economies, the United States and China, have
debt-to-GDP ratios of 210 percent and 310 percent, respectively. This would be
more manageable if not for the second challenge. This crisis is occurring at a
time when global cooperation has collapsed and the traditional leader and
organizer of such efforts, the United States, has abandoned that role entirely.”
Pandemic – History Lessons
Throughout history, pandemics have had profound
economic effects
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2020/03/14/throughout-history-pandemics-have-had-profound-economic-effects
How pandemics have remade the world
How pandemics have remade the world
The Real Reason Epidemiologists and Economists Keep
Arguing
The hard choices covid policymakers face
The Pandemic and the State
https://www.economist.com/briefing/2020/03/26/rich-countries-try-radical-economic-policies-to-counter-covid-19