Economic trends

Switzerland devised an ingenious way to throw a lifeline to its enterprises during the pandemic-induced crisis. Its “liquidity facility” targets the core segment of the economy, relies on business owners’ sense of responsibility and does not burden the country’s public finances with intolerable debt.

The economic consequences of the coronavirus mostly derive from lockdowns. Shutting down production, especially, is responsible for the downturn. The shock has kept people from spending, of course – but only temporarily. Saving now is only spending put off for another day. Policies intended to discourage that saving could backfire. ...

With the Covid-19 crisis pushing debt to record heights in many countries, it is worth wondering how they will ever pay it back. Several solutions have been proposed, from inflating the debt away, to deeply negative interest rates, to debt cancellation. All of these have severe flaws however, and in ...

Once a staunch defender of financial responsibility in the eurozone, Germany has thrown its support behind the European Commission’s ill-conceived, unwarranted and politicized spending scheme to aid the eurozone’s economy.