7 million jobs at risk if lockdown persists

This piece looks at the long term costs of lockdown for the UK economy

The National Institute for Social and Economic Research suggesting that some sectors are going to grind to a halt, with nearly 7 million jobs under threat from a sustained period without economic activity.

This Guardian piece looks at the impact of coronavirus on the town of Crawley - which is largely dependent upon the traffic through Gatwick Airport. As a result, there's likely to be a significant negative multiplier effect that affects the town and the surrounding area.

Larry Elliott notes here that when challenged by coronavirus, international financial organisations have struggled to raise their game. He attributes this to retreat of internationalism, the absence of US leadership and a little bit of timidity as regards the IMF's policy response. He goes as far as to suggest that the organisation should sell some of its gold reserves to fund the creation of some more Special Drawing Rights (SDR) for its members. It's a thought-provoking piece.

The Head of the IMF, Kristina Georgieva has suggested here that even the current dire economic forecasts for the next few month might not go far enough. At the moment, the IMF is expecting 170 countries to shrink in size, and of course, given globalisation, there are likely to be negative multiplier effects as global trade contracts.

The IMF is also having to alter its role - with an explicit focus on social welfare, and less emphasis on economic welfare. We really do live in interesting times.

This little snippet from the Guardian is interesting, not only does it show how revenues in the light rail sector have collapsed but it also points at how the immediate future might look with carriages with 210 capacity only carrying a maximum of 40 passengers.

As a result, such services are likely to struggle to break even, and be reliant upon state subsidies to stay open. And yet, you might argue that the state should be supporting such transport links because of the commensurate reduction in the negative externalities associated with private transport.