[James]

Coronavirus: Leading economist warns of 10 years of depression and debt
By Karishma Vaswani
Asia business correspondent
22 May 2020


Economist Nouriel Roubini has warned of a prolonged downturn and sluggish recovery from the coronavirus.

Nicknamed Dr Doom for his gloomy predictions, Professor Roubini said there are some jobs that simply will not come back after this crisis.

Even if the global economy recovers this year from the impact of the coronavirus, it will be "anaemic".

He warned of "unprecedented" recession. Professor Roubini foresaw the financial crisis in 2008 before many others.

"During the global financial crisis it took about three years until output fell sharply," he told the BBC's Talking Asia programme from his home in New York.

"This time around it didn't take three years, not even three months. In three weeks there was a freefall of every component."

Drastic

Professor Roubini also said any recovery will be in the shape of what economists call a "U", or even "something closer to an L" - what he calls a "Greater Depression."


A U-shaped recovery means that growth will fall and bottom out, and then pick up only after a prolonged period of slow or no growth.

An L shaped recovery is even more drastic - falling sharply and staying there for an extended period of time.

That's because of how many jobs have been lost in both rich and poor countries as a result of massive lockdowns to combat the virus.

"These jobs that are gone are going to come back only in part, with lower wages, no benefits, part-time," he said.

"There will be even more insecurity of jobs and income and wages for the average working person.".....

From https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52752172