Through the Looking Glass

Financial Express   The new normal after Covid-19 requires a re-imagining of macroeconomics: we need to start defining the contours of, and measuring, the fourth sector. (First of a two-part article) “There are three estates in Parliament but in the Reporters' Gallery yonder there sits a Fourth Estate more important far than they all. It is not a figure of speech or witty saying, it is a literal fact, very momentous to us in these times.” Edmund Burke's quote highlighted the rising of the Fourth Estate as press and media became an important pillar of the society. A similar momentous time is upon us again, courtesy the pandemic, as we recognize what brings income and wealth to the society. In an earlier article , “ Getting India digitally ready: COVID-19 pandemic highlights urgent need to build digital cocoons for the whole population ” (May 15, 2020, The Financial Express), we had looked at the importance of and need to build “digital cocoons” for a large segment of India’s p...

Financial Express Building liquidity infrastructure and solution and protecting incomes required in the short-term; rebuilding trust in the long-term We looked at some of the possible impacts of social distancing in the previous article . As various supply chains get disrupted due to sudden convulsions of demand and supply, the impact will be as much social as economic. The public health systems across the world are gearing up to cope with the challenges of the virus. We detail some of the steps that policy makers, industries and companies can take to tackle the uncertainties arising from this unprecedented way of living. The fundamental premise of social distancing is that individuals keep distance from one another. The premise of human economic activity in the modern world is based on the division of labour which intricately links up the economy to social interactions. Any lack of social interaction can create significant break-ups in the economic links. This flows through not...

Financial Express What the virus spread has revealed is that it is difficult to predict where it might emerge next and with what ferocity What has surprised the world about the new Coronavirus, Covid-19, is how quickly it engulfed the globe and how the unlikeliest of places emerged as hotspots for the epidemic. Starting in a deep interior region of China, it quickly spread across the world and became an epidemic in places that one would not have imagined have a link with the original location. The globalized world of air travel and deep, cross-linked supply chains meant that the virus was able to quickly spread out. It took root in a few places (even as it was quickly contained in Singapore) finding fertile ground in Iran and Italy. The jury is out on whether this can be safely contained in other places where the outbreak is starting to be reported like the USA, Europe, the UK, India, and other countries. What the virus spread has revealed is that it is difficult to predict wher...