Fiscal Policies to Support People and Growth During the COVID-19 Pandemic [Audio]

Speaker(s): Dr Simeon Djankov, Dr W. Raphael Lam, Catherine Pattillo, Dr Mehdi Raissi, Zsoka Koczan | Fiscal policies have been central for providing emergency lifelines to people and firms during the COVID-19 pandemic, and are also at the forefront of facilitating a recovery once the lockdown ends. This online event will focus on how policy makers can support fast and sustainable recovery. It will also consider the role of the “other government”: state-owned enterprises and public banks in supporting the recovery, drawing on the latest IMF Fiscal Monitor. Simeon Djankov (@SimeonDjankov) is Research Fellow, Financial Markets Group, LSE. He was deputy prime minister and minister of finance of Bulgaria from 2009 to 2013. Prior to his cabinet appointment, Djankov was chief economist of the finance and private sector vice presidency of the World Bank. W. Raphael Lam is a senior economist in the Fiscal Affairs Department of the IMF. His research currently focuses on fiscal issues related to inequality, intergovernmental relations, and fiscal rules. He previously worked on the China and Japan team in the Asia and Pacific Department, and had participated in the IMF’s lending program to Iceland during the global financial crisis. His previous research also covered fiscal and financial sector issues. He holds a Ph.D in Economics from University of California. Catherine Pattillo is Assistant Director in the Fiscal Affairs Department and chief of the Fiscal Policy and Surveillance Division, responsible for the IMF’s Fiscal Monitor. She works on macro-fiscal issues. Since joining the IMF from a position at Oxford University, she has worked in the Research Department and on countries in Africa and the Caribbean, and the Strategy, Policy and Review Department where she worked on low-income country issues, and emerging issues such as gender, inequality, and climate change. She has published widely in these areas. Mehdi Raissi (@mraissi80) is a senior economist in the Fiscal Affairs Department of the IMF. He joined the Fund in 2010 and worked on several multilateral surveillance issues and a range of countries, including Italy, India, and Mexico. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Cambridge. His research interests include macro-econometric modeling, macro-fiscal linkages, and sovereign debt issues. Zsoka Koczan (@ZsokaKoczan) is a Senior Economist at the EBRD’s Office of the Chief Economist, having previously worked in the IMF’s European and Research Departments. Piroska Nagy Mohacsi (@NagyMohacsi) is Programme Director in the Institute of Global Affairs at LSE. The Institute of Global Affairs (@LSEIGA) aims to maximise the impact of LSE's leading expertise across the social sciences by shaping inclusive and locally-rooted responses to the most important and pressing global challenges. The School of Public Policy (@LSEPublicPolicy) is an international community where ideas and practice meet. Our approach creates professionals with the ability to analyse, understand and resolve the challenges of contemporary governance. The Financial Markets Group Research Centre (@FMG_LSE) is a leading centre in Europe for policy research into financial markets. It is the focal point of the LSE's research communication with the business, policy making and international finance communities. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) was founded in 1991 to create a new post-Cold War era in central and eastern Europe. We are now doing more than ever before - across three continents - to further progress towards ‘market-oriented economies and the promotion of private and entrepreneurial initiative’.