Bonus Episode: “A Medically Induced Economic Coma”

Is the coronavirus a zero-sum game in which we must choose between saving lives and saving the economy? In this episode, we sit down with two experts to find out.

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Host
  • Gabrielle Sierra
    Director, Podcasting
Credits

Asher Ross - Supervising Producer

Markus Zakaria - Audio Producer and Sound Designer

Rafaela Siewert - Associate Podcast Producer

Episode Guests
  • Thomas J. Bollyky
    Senior Fellow for Global Health, Economics, and Development and Director of the Global Health Program
  • Sebastian Mallaby
    Paul A. Volcker Senior Fellow for International Economics

Show Notes

The Coronavirus pandemic changed our lives in a heartbeat. It has made us fear for our health, our loved ones, and our livelihoods. As the death toll rises, the return to normalcy seems to recede further and further away. Businesses have been asked to close for the foreseeable future, and millions are out of work. In this episode, we ask two experts to explain how fighting the virus can intersect with trying to save the U.S. economy.

 

From CFR 

 

Coronavirus: How Are Countries Responding to the Economic Crisis?” Jonathan Masters

 

After the Pandemic: Can the United States Finally Retool for the Twenty-First Century?”  Edward Alden

 

Read More

 

The U.S. Shut Down Its Economy. Here’s What Needs to Happen in Order to Restart.New York Times 

 

Top economists are deriding the ‘false choice’ between saving lives from coronavirus and maximizing economic growth. Here’s why the situation isn’t so cut-and-dry.Business Insider 

 

Congress Is Knitting a Coronavirus Safety Net. It Already Has Big Holes.New York Times 

 

Watch or Listen

 

The Coronavirus Explained & What You Should DoKurzgesagt

 

Covid-19: how bad will it be for the economy?Economist

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Scenes from the Israel-Hamas war have reverberated across the world. In the United States, debate about the conflict has intensified, and it has resurfaced long-standing questions about policy toward Israel and the Palestinian territories. What is the U.S. goal for the region? And how is the United States responding to the war?

Trade

International trade has shaped the world for much of the past century. Countries benefited from the global flow of goods, and the world became richer and safer. At the same time, many Americans lost their jobs to cheaper overseas competitors. Now, a series of compounding challenges, including great power competition and climate change, have led U.S. officials to rethink trade policy. What's next for international trade? And can the United States retain the benefits of trade while protecting critical supply chains and fighting climate change?

Drug Policy

Over the past few years, a new threat has emerged as a leading cause of death in the United States: fentanyl. Yet even as the drug wreaks havoc on Americans lives, preventing its flow into the United States is complicated, partially because of the supply’s overseas origins, which is often China. What is China’s role in the U.S. fentanyl crisis?

Top Stories on CFR

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Steven Cook, the Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at CFR, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the collapse of the temporary ceasefire in Gaza and the future of the conflict between Israel and Hamas

Budget, Debt, and Deficits

After years of steadily increasing debt, federal spending has skyrocketed, taking U.S. debt to levels not seen since World War II.   

United States

Committed global action at every level of government, the economy, and society is needed to tackle such a complex, multifaceted challenge, and a growing awareness that time is running out should help to foster it at the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai. But the real test will come after, when promises must be kept.