From health Crisis to debt crisis : Should we be worried - Ugo Panizza

June 8, 2020

Ugo Panizza, Professor of International Economics at the Graduate Institute of Geneva, interviewed by our economist Badr Mandri, goes back over recent developments in sovereign debt, particularly in developing countries, and discusses some interesting analytical issues that have emerged in this context of the coronavirus crisis.

Speakers
Badr Mandri
Economist
Badr Mandri is an Economist who joined Policy Center for the New South after two years’ experience at the Moroccan national statistics office (HCP, High Commission for Planning). His research activities focus on development macroeconomics especially on fiscal policy and development financing. Badr Mandri holds a master’s degree in applied economics, and is currently a PhD student at Mohamed V University in Rabat; ...
Ugo Panizza
Professor of International Economics at the Graduate Institute Geneva (IHEID) and Director of the Institute’s Centre for Finance and Development
Ugo Panizza is Professor of International Economics at the Graduate Institute Geneva (IHEID) and Director of the Institute’s Centre for Finance and Development. Ugo Panizza has been a Visiting Professor at the Institute since 2008, a position he held in addition to being the Chief of the Debt and Finance Analysis Unit at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. He is the Director of the Center for Finance and Development, Director of the International Centre for Monetary and Banking Studies (ICMB), Vice President and Fellow of CEPR, Fellow of the Fondazione Einaudi, and Editor of International Development Policy. Previously, he worked at the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank, alongside holding teaching and research posts at the American Univers ...

RELATED CONTENT

  • Authors
    June 10, 2020
    Three features of the post-pandemic global economy can already be anticipated: the worldwide rise in public and private debt levels, accelerated digitization, and a partial reversal of globalization. The first arises from the public sector's role as the ultimate insurer against catastrophes, government policies to smooth pandemic curves and the coronavirus recession. These will leave a legacy of massive public-sector debt worldwide (as discussed in a previous post. Lower tax revenue ...
  • June 10, 2020
    Ce travail vient explorer une nouvelle piste qui pourrait contribuer à une levée de confinement efficace. Il s’agit d’un phénomène que l’on appelle « effet coupe du monde ». Nous définissons, d’abord, ce phénomène, montrons son existence et son éventuel effet amplificateur au regard de la progression de la pandémie, en termes du nombre de cas infectés au pic et la durée encourue avant son atteinte. Partant de scénarios hypothétiques, en ce qui concerne les conditions initiales à la ...
  • June 10, 2020
    We explore a new avenue that could contribute to an effective de-confinement in the context of COVID-19. This phenomenon is known as the ‘World Cup Effect’. We first define this phenomenon and highlight its existence and its possible amplifying effect with regard to the spread of the pandemic, in light of the number of infected cases recorded at the pandemic’s peak, and the duration before reaching its highest level. Based on hypothetical scenarios in terms of the initial conditions ...
  • June 8, 2020
    Ugo Panizza, Professor of International Economics at the Graduate Institute of Geneva, interviewed by our economist Badr Mandri, goes back over recent developments in sovereign debt, particularly in developing countries, and discusses some interesting analytical issues that have emerged...
  • Authors
    Souha Majidi
    June 5, 2020
    Face à l’ampleur des retombées économiques et sociales des crises sanitaires, comme la Covid19, l’aide publique au développement peut jouer un rôle essentiel dans l’atténuation de l’impact des épidémies sur les économies les plus fragiles et vulnérables. L'aide publique au développement (APD) vise non seulement à combler le manque de capital nécessaire à amorcer une dynamique forte de développement, mais aussi à amorcer la capacité des Etats à répondre aux risques sanitaires et sécu ...
  • June 1, 2020
    تدور خطة العمل التي تم وضعها في مواجهة جائحة كوفيد 19 حول ثلاثة محاور: الصحة والاقتصاد والنظام الاجتماعي. وفي كل مجال من هذه المجالات، ساعدت مبادرات المؤسسات العامة والقطاع الخاص وأعضاء المجتمع المدني حتى الآن على الحد من أضرار الوباء على الصعيد الصحي، تسعى الجهود المبذولة إلى التحكم في انتشار المرض من أجل ضمان احتواء المنظومة الصحية لتدفق الحالات بشكل أفضل، خصوصا بالنظر إلى الموارد المحدودة والموزعة بشكل متفاوت على مستوى التراب الوطني. وقد تم إعطاء الأولوية في هذا السياق إلى الزيا ...
  • Authors
    May 27, 2020
    COVID-19 has delivered a powerful double punch to the chin of the global economy, combining a terrifying pandemic with a collapse in production because of the withdrawal into their homes of half the world’s workers. The uncertainty generated by the medical and economic shock is paralyzing consumers and investors, and the dispersion of short-term economic forecasts is far wider than at any time in modern history, about six times greater than during the Great Financial Crisis. The GD ...
  • May 27, 2020
    Next Einstein Forum Managing Director Nathalie Munyampenda talks with Policy Center for the New South Senior Fellow Khalid Chegraoui about the challenges Africa is facing in light of Covid-19. This unprecedented health crisis is severely testing Africa's social, economic and political r...
  • Authors
    May 21, 2020
    Our senior fellow, Otaviano Canuto, has contributed to Science Direct academic Journal, with a research paper entitled « Does the Brazilian policy for oil revenues distribution foster investment in human capital? », Volume 88, May 2020, 104760. This paper assesses the effect of oil revenues on health and education indicators (measures for human capital) in the Brazilian municipalities using exogenous oil price variations. The Oil Law of 1997, apart from to hugely increase the amoun ...
  • Authors
    Adil El Madani
    May 20, 2020
    Despite the global magnitude of the COVID-19 crisis, the response to the pandemic has mainly occurred at national level, with very poor global coordination so far. For Africa, which will provide one in four of the world’s consumers by 2050, coming out of the crisis will cost at least $100 billion. The average ratio of public revenue to GDP in African countries is only 19%, and the debt burden already absorbs 22% of that revenue, giving many African governments limited scope compared ...