Great Depression

New Zealand’s 2020 budget will be one of the most significant in the country’s history. Whatever its content, it will be remembered alongside those of 1938 and 1991 as a pivotal event. For any minister of finance, the stakes have never been higher and the problems facing the country never more dire. Over a few […]

We should resist any attempt to return to the market liberal economy of the past few decades. Not only has it proven to be of no use in dealing with crises like the pandemic, it has regularly generated crises of its own, such as the global financial crisis, forcing governments to come to the rescue.

There are distinct parallels between the severe economic downturn of the 1930s and the economic repercussions of the COVID-19 crisis in terms of mass business closures and worker layoffs.

As the governments work out stimulus packages, officials can either decide to continue the “trickle-down” approach to first protect banks, corporations and their investors with monetary stimuli.