The way out
Photo: Reza/ Drik News
THESE are troubled times and the mind cannot help but be troubled. Surveying the wreckage all around -- from Wall Street, the world of finance I work in, to Main Street, the real economy I live in -- it is disconcerting to see how quickly the contours of our world are changing.
In Manhattan, the epicentre of the financial earthquake, the restaurants are emptier, the streets less busy, the shops empty. On a global scale, images of economic pain giving way to despair are troubling; this week alone, there are reports of riots in Bulgaria, student unrest in China, and violence in Iceland, as once peaceful citizenry gives in to despair.
However, for those in positions of power, political or economic, entrusted with safeguarding millions of lives and livelihoods, surrendering to despair is not an option. There are policy tools available, which, if applied with care, can slow the rate of the recession, shorten its duration, and set the world back on a path to recovery.
Back in Bangladesh, the situation is relatively calmer, as the full-blown impact of the global crisis has yet to hit home. However, we cannot afford to be sanguine; it is incumbent upon policy makers here at home to take the lessons from across the globe and proactively implement an interventionist agenda that combats the threat. This article, then, is not about the spiral of despair, but about the economics of recovery and hope.
As the world sinks into a synchronised global recession, it is less important to ask how we got here and more important to figure out how to get out. In developed economies across the globe, where the crisis has already reached epic proportions, the needle has moved from the realm of academic debate about what to do and into concrete policy actions.
From the US to Europe to China, politicians, central bankers and financiers are applying every macro-economic and legislative tool at their disposal to halt the downward spiral in their respective economies and chart a course to recovery.
For the full version of this article please read this month's Forum, available free with The Daily Star on Monday, March 2.
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