Claudia Sahm speaks at NY Fed Symposium “Heterogeneity in Macroeconomics: Implications for Policy”

A November 6 symposium hosted by the New York Fed brought together an array of experts in macroeconomics to debate the implications of monetary and fiscal policy for inequality, as well as lessons learned from pandemic policy.

JFI Senior Fellow Claudia Sahm spoke on the first panel, “Inequality, Fiscal Policy, and the COVID-19 Recession.”

From the event recap:

“[Sahm] discussed whether the fiscal policies that were employed in response to COVID-19 helped to mitigate economic hardship for those that were particularly marginalized by the epidemic. She argued that the answer was a resounding yes, but that, even with that help, the hardship was still greater for some, such as low-wage workers and people in minority groups. While the U.S. government’s COVID response could be described as going “big, … broad, and … fast,” there remains, Sahm said, room for improvement.

…

She argued that we need to improve our existing automatic stabilizers such as the unemployment insurance (UI) system, which had difficulty reaching even those that were eligible. Second, she advocated introducing new automatic stabilizers like stimulus checks, with disbursement tied to economic indicators rather than reliant on the political process.”

View the full recap on Liberty Street Economics.

Videos of the sessions here.