Coronavirus

The Chinese Health Organization?

2020-04-26

If the World Health Organization is to spearhead international health policy and respond to disease outbreaks effectively, it must pursue deep reforms aimed at broadening its jurisdiction and authority.

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Two ways to save Iraq from financial crisis

2020-04-26

The Iraqi government should rationalize its expenditures

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COVID-19: The Capitalist Emperor Has No Clothes

2020-04-20

The systemic failure of the capitalist order triggered by the coronavirus has reinforced the growing awareness that extreme wealth inequality...

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The Moral Crisis of the Pandemic

2020-04-20

COVID-19 has intensified our dependence on local communities, and we are riveted by stories of community resilience in the face of an unseen peril.

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I Can’t Stop Thinking About Patient One

2020-04-16

Italy shows us that controlling the pandemic will require reshaping family life in much of the world.

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The Human-Capital Costs of the Crisis

2020-04-16

Unlike a hurricane or earthquake, the coronavirus pandemic has caused no damage to physical capital stock. But firm-specific skills have no value when the firm that uses them goes out of business, which is one reason why US productivity...

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Will COVID-19 Remake the World?

2020-04-13

No one should expect the pandemic to alter – much less reverse – tendencies that were evident before the crisis. Neoliberalism will continue its slow death, populist autocrats will become even more authoritarian, and the left will continue to struggle to

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Can Liberal Democracy Survive COVID-19?

2020-04-12

Even if Western leaders manage to limit the COVID-19 outbreaks immediate fallout, it will mean little without forward-looking efforts to strengthen liberal-democratic systems from within. Such a failure would could well amount to handing China victory in

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The Coronavirus Could Reshape Global Order

2020-04-12

China Is Maneuvering for International Leadership as the United States Falters

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How Will the Coronavirus Crisis Affect Your Middle Eastern Focus Area in the Coming Months?

2020-04-07

A regular survey of experts on matters relating to Middle Eastern and North African politics and security.

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Navigating the Pandemic Trilemma

2020-04-07

The broad consensus of the COVID-19 era holds that measures to protect public health imply hard trade-offs with economic growth and political liberty.

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Capitalism’s Triple Crisis

2020-04-05

After the 2008 financial crisis, we learned the hard way what happens when governments flood the economy with unconditional liquidity, rather than laying the foundation for a sustainable and inclusive recovery. Now that an even more severe crisis is under

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Unemployment during coronavirus: The psychology of job loss

2020-04-05

Millions of people around the world have lost their jobs amid the current Covid-19 crisis. How should you handle your emotional reaction?

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Beware Viral Enabling Acts

2020-04-05

It is crucial that opposition parties are broadly on board with measures taken to address what seems like a once-in-a-century public-health crisis.

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Face Masks Are In

2020-04-02

The West has long stigmatized mask-wearing, unlike in many Asian countries, where those who do not wear masks during public-health crises are the ones who are stigmatized.

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Iran cannot fight covid-19 with conspiracy theories

2020-04-01

As covid-19 began spreading across Iran in February, the regime held a rigged election. Weeks later, when nearly 10% of Iranian mps were infected and it was clear the country had a problem, the ruling clerics refused to close crowded holy spots.

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China Is Not the Hero of the Pandemic

2020-04-01

You can criticize Trump without parroting Beijings propaganda.

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Welcome to the Post-Virus World

2020-04-01

Just two months ago, most people believed that random mass death no longer stalked the Earth. Reconciling ourselves with the reality that it does clarifies much, including how to....

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Coronavirus: Lebanon banks halt dollar withdrawals after pandemic closes airport

2020-04-01

US currency is imported into the country but Beiruts international airport is to remain closed until at least 12 April

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China’s Misplaced Pandemic Propaganda

2020-03-31

As the COVID-19 pandemic escalates, China has shifted its propaganda machine into high gear, in an effort to change the narrative about the virus origins and the Chinese response.

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The Race Between Economics and COVID-19

2020-03-28

For years, the economics profession has suffered from a stubborn reluctance to adopt a more multidisciplinary approach. But now that the COVID-19

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Flattening the COVID-19 Curve in Developing Countries

2020-03-25

The more contained you want the novel coronavirus to be, the more you will need to lock down your country – and the more fiscal space you will require to mitigate the deeper recession that will result.

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The COVID-19 Cash Out

2020-03-22

While Chinese authorities have been destroying banknotes that have potentially come into contact with the coronavirus, Western countries remain woefully behind not just in their response to the pandemic

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Averting Economic Disaster Is the Easy Part

2020-03-22

Based on Chinas experience with COVID-19, the fiscal cost of comprehensive compensation for lost income could reach 10% of annual GDP, and as much as 25% of GDP in the US and Europe if the epidemic turns out to be worse there, which now looks likely. Thes

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