Global Perspectives Podcast Panel Q&A on COVID-19 Crisis by Global Perspectives Policy Podcast

In this episode we address questions posed by our students relating to the COVID-19 crisis and associated policy responses.

Panel:
Professor Bruce Preston, The University of Melbourne
Professor James Morley, The University of Sydney
Professor Mariano Kulish, The University of Sydney
Associate Professor Aarti Singh, The University of Sydney
Dr Christopher Gibbs, The University of Sydney

Questions from our audience:

1. Money doesn’t grow on trees, so who is paying for this income support? If it’s ‘future tax payers’, how does that actually happen? It's not like future tax payers are paying taxes, sticking cash in an envelope, and sending the money back to us in a time machine.
2. What is the relevance of MMT (Modern Monetary Theory) at the moment and should we be worried about the debt burden?
3. The JobKeeper payments are not means tested. Why might this policy have been chosen over a means tested policy, and what are the implications of not means-testing the payments?
4. Can we just put rent and mortgages on ice? Pause rent, pause mortgages. Once the crisis is over we can start paying them again, but why not just pause all payments for now?
5. Emerging economies don’t seem to have the same resources that more developed countries like Australia to provide stimulus. What can these countries do to reduce the macroeconomic impact of Covid-19?
6. Developing countries usually rely on the multilateral banks (IMF, World Bank) in times of economic crisis. Given the global scale of the pandemic, do these institutions have the resources necessary to support countries? What alternative measures can be taken?