The Political Economy of Economic Policy

The COVID-19 pandemic strik- ingly illustrates the intersectionof politics, economics, and otherconsiderations. Public health experts have long warned that the world was likely to face a major pandemic and called for greater preparedness. Yet poli- cymakers who have to focus on the next election nd it di cult to invest the time, money, and political capital to address the abstract possibility of a future crisis. And so most of the world was unprepared for aglobal public health threat of the magnitudeposed by the novel coronavirus.