Experience Stern | Faculty & Research

"Income inequality in the United States was at historic levels before the coronavirus hit. Now, as the disease—and the social and economic implications it brings—spread across the country, it is likely to create even deeper fissures between the poor and rich." Read More...

"Though we are among the few commentators who anticipated that the EU would offer a plan much larger than what most market participants and pundits expected, we also would advise European policymakers to remain realistic about what can be achieved at the moment. Celebrations of the EU’s long-awaited “Hamiltonian moment” of debt mutualization are premature." Read More...

"Late yesterday, President Trump escalated his war against the social media companies, Twitter in particular, issuing an executive order that seeks to limit their legal protections against liability for content posted on their sites. The irony of his action, as others have pointed out, is that the President himself has been one of the greatest beneficiaries of the current state of these social media platforms. This is a space where harmful content, including provably false disinformation, especially in the political realm, continues to flow freely." Read More...

"While it has risen over the two decades of monetary union, risk sharing among the member states of the euro area remains well below that in the US. The progress reflects the hopes of the Kohl- Mitterand generation, but the gaps still make Europe’s monetary union vulnerable. Risk sharing is the simple idea that a group shares the pain of a shock that hits some households and not others. In the absence of risk sharing, consumption losses are borne solely by those directly affected by the shock. By contrast, complete risk sharing means that the per capita consumption losses are borne equally." Read More...

"The coronavirus crisis reveals deep fissures that have long existed in our country. 'Economic Dignity,' a new book by Gene Sperling, a former national economic advisor to Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, provides important insight into some of those chasms related to economic inequality. In a vivid and timely way, Sperling’s book highlights the 'dissonance between our nation’s labeling of workers as ‘essential’ and ‘heroes’ and their limited wages, benefits and ability to organize.'” Read More...

"The coronavirus pandemic is exponentially increasing the need for robots in our already exceedingly robo-reliant lives. For example, between March 2 and April 14, virtual urgent care visits at NYU Langone Health grew by 683 percent, and non-urgent virtual care visits grew by an unprecedented 4,345 percent in response to COVID-19." Read More...

"A going-concern warning is, in fact, a prediction of future failure. All predictions are subject to uncertainty and error, particularly those made in the current environment. I doubt whether auditors know better than investors when and how fast will business return from the coronavirus lockdown to normal. I am told that Staples disposed of their 2020 planners for free, given the futility of current planning and forecasting." Read More...

"Covid-19 has taken an extraordinary toll on businesses around the world. In India, business confidence is at its lowest since the 2009 financial crisis: 72 per cent of firms have reported adverse effects on operations, 90 per cent are facing supply chain disruptions and 53 per cent anticipate a decline in sales over the next two quarters. Industrial output in key sectors could fall by up to 15 per cent and GDP growth by 10-20 per cent during the April-June 2020 quarter, with ripple effects continuing for an uncertain period of time." Read More...

"The coronavirus pandemic has laid bare many of the inequalities in America, including the differences in access to broadband Internet. To reduce the spread of the coronavirus, many people around the world are now working from home, relying more than ever on a speedy Internet connection. For entertainment, people are now relying heavily on Netflix, Disney+ and other streaming media, which are seeing record subscriber growth. Students are completing their semesters online, and—if my household with a kindergartner and fourth grader is any indication—regularly relying on video conferencing to remain connected with teachers and classmates." Read More...

"The coronavirus pandemic has brought one part of this economic model into the spotlight. 'Outsourcing,' a term that entered our lexicon in the early 1980s, describes the contracting of work from one company to another. Prominent business consultants like the late Peter Drucker have promoted this practice for decades, advising companies to “do what you do best and outsource the rest.” This is now the prevalent model in many industries." Read More...

"While there is never a good time for a pandemic, the COVID-19 crisis has arrived at a particularly bad moment for the global economy. The world has long been drifting into a perfect storm of financial, political, socioeconomic, and environmental risks, all of which are now growing even more acute." Read More...

"This week, Congress approved $310 billion to add to the initial $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The program provides small businesses with forgivable loans to keep workers employed, but the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on job losses continues unabated." Read More...

"The British government recently sent a letter to every household saying it would do whatever was necessary to beat the coronavirus “if that is what the scientific and medical advice tells us we must do.” At the same time, numerous organizations — commercial, national and international — produced forecasts of the path of the economy over the next two years. But science, and especially models, cannot tell us what to do." Read More...

"Years of polling in the United States and Europe show that public confidence in institutions has been falling, fueling partisan polarization and political paralysis. But now that the COVID-19 pandemic has left us with no choice but to rely on our institutions, the question of whether trust can be restored has become paramount." Read More...