Question

What impact is the COVID crisis having on the global economy? How long will it last? What are the current policy responses around the world and how effective will they be?

Below is a short video from the respected weekly magazine "The Economist" and a link to a Harvard panel on this topic. Please watch these videos and share your thoughts.

COVID-19: How bad will it be for the economy? (Economist)

Harvard faculty discussing the economic impact and the policy response

Answer 1

The coronavirus recession, the Great Lockdown or the Great Shutdown,is an extreme and worldwide recession. A financial outcome of the continuous COVID-19 pandemic, the primary significant indication of the coronavirus downturn was the 2020 securities exchange crash on 20 February, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) wrote about 14 April that the entirety of the G7 countries had just entered or were going into a "profound downturn" and that there had just been a noteworthy log jam of development in rising economies. IMF ventures propose that the coronavirus downturn will be the most extreme worldwide financial downturn since the Great Depression, and that it will be "far more awful" than the Great Recession of 2009.

The pandemic has prompted in excess of 33% of the total populace being put on lockdown to stop the spread of COVID-19. It has caused serious repercussions for economies over the world, after not long after a worldwide monetary stoppage during 2019 that saw stagnation of securities exchanges and buyer action around the world.

The downturn has seen curiously high and fast increments in joblessness in numerous nations, and the powerlessness in the United States for state-supported joblessness protection frameworks and procedures to stay aware of uses.

The United Nations (UN) anticipated in April 2020 that worldwide joblessness will clear out 6.7 percent of working hours all around in the second quarter of 2020—comparable to 195 million all day laborers.

In western countries, joblessness is relied upon to be at around 10%, with all the more seriously influenced countries from the COVID-19 pandemic having higher joblessness rates.

The creating scene is additionally being influenced by a drop in settlements. The UN cautioned in April of a starvation "of scriptural extents", which could influence more than 30 creating countries.

The recession saw the breakdown of the cost of oil activated by the 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil value war, the breakdown of the travel industry, the accommodation business, the vitality business and a critical downturn in customer action in contrast with the earlier decade. Worldwide securities exchanges slammed around 20 to 30% during late February and March 2020, individually. During the accident, worldwide financial exchanges made phenomenal and unpredictable swings, for the most part because of extraordinary vulnerability in the business sectors.

Prior to the pandemic, there were indications of downturn. The US yield bend altered in mid-2019, typically characteristic of a prospective downturn.

Beginning in March 2020, work misfortune was fast. Around 16 million positions were lost in the United States in the three weeks finishing on 4 April. Joblessness claims arrived at a record high, with 3.3 million cases made in the week finishing on 21 March.

On 8 May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced a U-3 joblessness (official joblessness) figure of 14.7%, the most significant level recorded since 1941, with U-6 joblessness (all out jobless in addition to imperceptibly connected and low maintenance underemployed specialists) arriving at 22.8%.

Café support fell pointedly over the country,and significant carriers decreased their procedure for a huge scope. The Big Three vehicle makers all ended creation. In April, development of new homes dropped by 30%, arriving at the most minimal level in five years.

The St. Louis Fed Financial Stress Index expanded strongly from beneath zero to 5.8 during March 2020. The United States Department of Commerce announced that purchaser spending fell by 7.5 percent during the long stretch of March 2020. It was the biggest month to month drop since record keeping started in 1959. Thus, the nation's GDP diminished at a pace of 4.8 percent during the principal quarter of 2020.

The biggest monetary boost enactment in American history, a $2 trillion bundle called the CARES Act, was marked into law on 27 March 2020.[243]

The Congressional Budget Office detailed in May 2020 that,

The joblessness rate expanded from 3.5% in February to 14.7% in April, speaking to a decay of in excess of 25 million individuals utilized, in addition to another 8 million people that left the work power.

Occupation decreases were centered around enterprises that depend on "face to face communications, for example, retail, training, wellbeing administrations, recreation and friendliness. For instance, 8 of the 17 million relaxation and accommodation positions were lost in March and April.

The monetary effect was required to hit littler and more up to date organizations harder, as they regularly have less money related pad.

Genuine (swelling balanced) shopper spending fell 17% from February to April, as social separating arrived at its pinnacle. In April, vehicle and light truck deals were 49% beneath the late 2019 month to month normal. Home loan applications fell 30% in April 2020 versus April 2019.

Genuine GDP was estimate to fall at an almost 38% yearly rate in the subsequent quarter, or 11.2% versus the earlier quarter, with an arrival to positive quarter-to-quarter development of 5.0% in Q3 and 2.5% in Q4 2020. Be that as it may, genuine GDP was not expected to recapture its Q4 2019 level until 2022 or later.

The joblessness rate was estimate to average 11.5% in 2020 and 9.3% in 2021.

In June 2020, monetary investigator Jim Cramer said that the reaction to the coronavirus downturn has prompted the greatest exchange of riches to the ultra-well off in current history