The COVID-19 pandemic led to an unprecedented shutdown of the global economy. Governments (mostly in advanced economies) responded with an array of programs, from increased unemployment benefits, stimulus payments, small business assistance loans, and broad monetary support. In spite of these unprecedented interventions, all financed by a rapid expansion of public debt, the economic outlook continues to be very uncertain nearly nine months into the pandemic. What are the likely near- and long-term consequences of the pandemic for the global economy? Which populations have been most affected?  Which industries are likely to recover, and which will not? How should we evaluate the success of economic measures taken by governments in the U.S. and around the world?  

Co-sponsored by the Clausen Center for International Business and Policy, and presented as part of the Berkeley Haas "New Thinking in a Pandemic" series, this “Matrix on Point” panel discussion — recorded on December 3, 2020 — brought together a panel of scholars to discuss the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The panelists were Mitu Gulati, Professor of Law at Duke University; Hilary Hoynes, Professor of Economics and Public Policy and the Haas Distinguished Chair in Economic Disparities at UC Berkeley; Ṣebnem Kalemli-Özcan, the Neil Moskowitz Professor of Economics and Finance at the University of Maryland; and Maurice Obstfeld, the Class of 1958 Professor of Economics at Berkeley and a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. The panel was moderated by Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, Professor of Economics in the UC Berkeley Department of Economics; and S.K. and Angela Chan Professor of Global Management in the Haas School of Business.

Watch the panel above or on YouTube.