INET Webinars & Events

Global carbon emissions could fall by an estimated 5.5% in 2020 as a result of declining industrial production in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. But if the change is not systemic these effects may be fleeting, and the changing climate could put hundreds of millions of lives, trillions of dollars of economic activity, and the world’s physical and natural capital at risk.

While policymakers around the world are in fire-fighting mode, trying to keep the economies in their charge running and the mysterious pandemic under control, the global terrain beneath our feet is shifting. Which countries will emerge as winners and losers in the new global landscape?

Technology has played a critical role during the COVID-19 pandemic, facilitating remote work and automating certain pandemic responses. But it has also accelerated technological adoption, and the “future of work” may now be the present.

A webinar panel discussion moderated by INET Fellow Moritz Schularick, with Laura Carvalho, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of São Paulo, Matthew C. Klein, Economics Commentator at Barron’s, and Amir Sufi, Bruce Lindsay Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

As the world economy seeks to emerge from the deep recession caused by the pandemic, economic nationalism and isolationism are on the rise. Yet the better response to lower growth and worsening inequality could involve globally-coordinated policy responses that focus on broad based, sustainable economic growth. Now more than ever it is time for a new global economic policy paradigm that can facilitate a strong recovery.

As protests erupt on the streets of America and the world, current power structures no longer feel tenable. Can this popular uprising break the neoliberal grip on the state and create lasting structural change that will empower the disenfranchised?

In March the US government authorized the largest domestic bailout in history. Who were the real winners and losers of this bailout? Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Jesse Eisinger has been following the money.

As the collapse of global supply chains highlights the fragility that comes with economic interdependence, the pandemic is fueling the rise of ethnonationalism. Policy decisions in response to the crisis will play an important role in determining the fate of the world economy.

Every country has had a different policy response to the crisis; and within countries different political parties have championed various approaches. How has COVID-19 affected politics and social life in developed western countries?

Technology has played a central role in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. But that has come with increased risks to privacy. How do we balance our needs for safety, convenience and privacy in the wake of this crisis?