Corona Update: USA (3) – aktuelle Studien, Analysen und Kommentare

“How the G20 Can Hasten Recovery from COVID-19”

Quelle: The Peterson Institute for International Economics - PIIE (April 2020)

Maurice Obstfeld, Nonresident Senior Fellow, and Adam Posen, President; et al.

Briefing Report

This PIIE Briefing, written by 16 authors, contains policy areas (in 11 chapters) where it calls on the G20 to take action collectively that can expedite a return to global health and economic recovery. Among the areas of cooperation suggested are disease control, international trade, and financial policy. Much attention is given to the developing countries and having the G20 extend the greatly needed financial “safety net”. Another issue addressed is the danger of an appreciation of the US-Dollar. The biggest hurdle the authors argue is to “just get past mutual distrust.”

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“IMF World Economic Outlook”

Quelle: IMF (April 15, 2020)

Report

According to the International Monetary Fund, it „is very likely that this year the global economy will experience its worst recession since the Great Depression, surpassing that seen during the global financial crisis a decade ago.“ If there is a silver lining, it is that the recovery from what the Fund calls "The Great Lockdown" is set to be much faster than what we saw in 2010. Here is a comparison of the dip and the recovery between then and now, for some of the world's largest economies, based on IMF data and projections. The full report is set to be released in May of 2020.

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“COVID-19 and Africa: On-the-Ground Perspectives from Five African Countries”

Quelle: The Wilson Center Africa Program (April 9, 2020)

Webinar

The Wilson Center hosted a discussion event with five directors from various international institutions located in Ethiopia, Libya, Côte d’Ivoire, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This event provided a better and more in-depth understanding of COVID-19's unfolding in Africa, in general, and in particular African countries. For example, Mr. El Gomati from Libya warns that the strain on African resources by the pandemic could increase migration to Europe.” Representatives from South Africa and the DRC mentioned that regional cooperation is mainly done through the African Union. Please watch the webinar here.

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“Avoiding a COVID-19 Disaster for Renters and the Housing Market”

Quelle: Urban Institute (April 13, 2020)

Laurie Goodman, Vice President Housing Finance Policy; Dan Magder, Center Creek Capital Group and CEO of Center Creek Homes

Study

America’s 44 million renter households are, in general, more vulnerable than America’s 78 million homeowner households to the income disruption that stay-at-home policies and mass layoffs will impose during the COVID-19 crisis. According to the authors, policymakers need to act now to create a national rental assistance program that will provide direct rental payments to renters, either in rental voucher form that cannot be misused for less critical purposes or directly to property owners. Please read here:

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“A National Plan to Enable Comprehensive COVID-19 Case Finding and Contact Tracing in the US”

Quelle: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (April 12, 2020)

Crystal Watson, Senior Scholar, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security; et al.

Study

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health put out a plan to contain the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. by proposing a system to identify all COVID-19 cases and trace all close contacts. To effectively conduct such large-scale tracing efforts, the authors propose to mobilize 100,000 contract “tracers”, which would be funded through a federal emergency funding of $3.6 billion. The report focuses on how such a tracing plan could quickly be rolled out on a state and local level. 

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“The Case for a National Industrial Strategy to Counter China’s Technological Rise”

Quelle: Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF, April 13, 2020)

Robert D. Atkinson, President

Report

ITIF states that "the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted global supply chains and further underscored the stakes involved in the growing techno-economic challenge America faces from China." The report suggests that Congress, especially during stimulus deliberations, should hone in on a robust industrial strategy.

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“Pandemic May Replace the Nation-State: But With What? Beyond COVID-19”

Quelle: Atlantic Council (April 9, 2020)

David Bray, Director, AC’s GeoTech Center

Study

In his analysis for the Atlantic Council, David Bray looks into the future post COVID-19. He asks the question if the Westphalian system of sovereign nation-states which emerged four centuries ago will survive the challenges of the worldwide crisis. He identifies three global trends that existed before the pandemic and explains the challenges to those trends posed by the coronavirus. Read Bray’s article here.

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“Order from Chaos: Coronavirus is Also a Threat to Democratic Constitutions”

Quelle: The Brookings Institution (April 15, 2020)

Constanze Stelzenmüller, Senior Fellow

Blog

The author examines the importance of constitutions of Western democracies in the times of emergencies like the coronavirus crisis. She shows examples of authoritarian impulses and makes a case for constitutional actors like courts, governors and citizens to “reassert their rightful roles”.

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“Coronavirus in Conflict Zones”

Quelle: Carnegie Endowment (April 14, 2020)

Frances Z. Brown, fellow; Jarrett Blanc, sr. Fellow

Study

The new coronavirus is spreading into conflict-affected states. The authors suggest that the pandemic and efforts to contain it are much more likely to aggravate and multiply conflicts than reduce or end them.

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"Making Cyberspace Safe for Democracy - The New Landscape of Information Competition"

Quelle: Foreign Affairs (May/June 2020)

Laura Rosenberger, Director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy and Senior Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of United States

Article

Rosenberger portrays a new international power competition unlike traditional or economic warfare, but one that plays out on smartphones, computers, the Internet of Things and on the digital infrastructure that supports them. She differentiates between cyberspace (network infrastructure, servers, etc.) and information space, the "the arena of data and public perception, where states can employ surveillance, gather data, perform espionage, and distort information."

The author advises lawmakers to protect the information space, "in order to preserve the ability of democracies to function," and asserts that understanding this new contest and developing a vision and strategy were critical to protecting U.S. national security in the information age.

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"How Physical Distancing Today Will Reshape the Digital Economy of Tomorrow"

Quelle: Information Technology and Innovation Foundation – ITIF (April 9, 2020)

Webinar

Robert Atkinson, President, (ITIF), Moderator; Daniel Castro, Vice President, (ITIF), and Director, Center for Data Innovation, Panelist; David Moschella, Research Fellow, Leading Edge Forum, Panelist

During this webinar, participants discussed the digital implications of the pandemic on society, industry, and individuals and how organizations and governments could respond. The current coronavirus epidemic has accelerated how all sectors of society rely on digital technology in our businesses, schools, and homes. The webinar raises the question, whether the move to more online and IT-driven activities will extend beyond the times of the crisis.

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“The Technological Response to COVID-19"

Quelle: The Economic Club of New York (April 14, 2020)

Video

Marie Josée Kravis, Chair, The Economic Club of New York and Senior Fellow, The Hudson Institute; Eric Schmidt, former Chairman and CEO, Google and Alphabet

In this video, Schmidt states that the response to the coronavirus pandemic had been obstructed by a lack of information on infection and exposure patterns and stated that the federal government invested too little in this type of research, which was now taken on by philanthropy and private companies.

The former Google CEO cautioned though that big tech companies would not, "as a group, (...) tackle this head on because of all of the concerns over privacy," and guessed that "each state will be left alone to try to figure out what sort of software information system to build."

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Weitere Kurzbeiträge:

“It's Time for a New World Order”

Quelle: American Enterprise Institute (April 15, 2020)

Danielle Pletka, Senior Fellow, Foreign and Defense Policy

In her op-ed, Danielle Pletka, lays out how the novel cornonavirus outbreak highlights the inadequacy of global neo-liberal structures in coordinating efforts in combating a pandemic such as COVID-19, yet highlights that this is indicative of the overall shortcomings in addressing contemporary global challenges. She argues that adaption and change will be necessary for these post-war pillars of the international world order to survive and along with them global prosperity and peace.

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“Congressional Oversight of the CARES Act Could Prove Troublesome”

Jackson Gode, Research Analyst, Governance Studies

Despite successfully approving more than two trillion dollars in federal spending in response to COVID-19 in the CARES Act, Congress faces several unique challenges in conducting oversight of the pandemic relief which may require it to find equally unique solutions to ensure its effective implementation. In his article Jackson Gode lays out the three main oversight challenges Congress will be confronted with, short- and long-term.

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Für die aktuellen Zahlen zur Corona-Krise in den USA:

The Centers for Disease Control:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

The Johns Hopkins University:

https://hub.jhu.edu/novel-coronavirus-information/

The New York Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html