Tracker by Edward Cavanough, Liliana Tai and Connor Wherrett. The McKell Institute.
November 2019 - July 2020.
COVID-19 is the biggest global health challenge since the Spanish Flu. The first priority for governments must be protecting the health and wellbeing of their citizens. But the extraordinary economic impact of COVID-19 is also demanding extraordinary actions. The global economy is contracting, and predictions of depression-level unemployment have resulted in unprecedented fiscal and monetary responses from governments and central banks around the world.
From wage subsidies to an effective doubling of Newstart and free childcare in Australia, policy proposals once thought unattainable are now being implemented almost overnight. And the scale of some measures are hard to fathom. All evidence suggests these economic headwinds will be protracted. But with so much news every day, it’s easy to miss some of the most consequential announcements. We’ll be providing daily updates as governments attempt to navigate their economies through the crisis. The timeline is focused on fiscal responses, predominately from OECD nations.
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