by Peter Boettke
The American Institute for Economic Research
One of the numerous ways I have occupied myself during the lockdown (and in NoVA we are not yet even in Phase 1) has been joining each week the webinars on The Economic Implications of Covid-19 hosted by Professor Markus Brunnermeier, the Director of Princeton’s Bendheim Center for Finance. The lineup has been impressive, and the information I have been able to gather from the different speakers has been vital to my own efforts to puzzle through the current situation.
It is not that I agree with the analysis always presented, but I get to appreciate how careful some thinkers are (e.g., Angus Deaton) and how politicized others have become (e.g., Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman). It also has been eye-opening how given what I already knew prior to the seminar about the general perspective and approach of these famous speakers, that I could guess what they would have to say.