Authors:

  • Robert Barro

Excerpt

Cutting GDP to Counter the Coronavirus Pandemic. Robert Barro, March 26, 2020, Opinion, "One of the main policy responses to the coronavirus pandemic has been to curb economic activity as a way of reducing the contagion’s spread. I would characterize this policy as a decision to reduce U.S. and world GDP in the short run by roughly 20 percent. In essence, this is a voluntarily implemented negative supply shock, akin to a sudden loss in productivity. The world’s annual GDP today is around $100 trillion, so a 20 percent cut sustained for a year would be about $20 trillion, roughly the annual GDP of the United States. For the moment, I assume that it is a good policy choice to engineer this reduction in GDP by $20 trillion worldwide, $4 trillion of which is accounted for by the United States." " Link