Emerging from COVID-19 – Building Back Better: Essential Reforms for a More Resilient, Sustainable, and Inclusive Economic Recovery

Sponsored by OECD iLibrary
Recorded on 06/08/2021

Posted in Scholarly Communication and Research

Summary:

With vaccination rates climbing and pandemic-related restrictions being eased in the U.S. and other major economies, countries are figuring out what a return to “normal” looks like. However, COVID-19 has exacerbated existing inequalities among social, ethnic and racial groups. In the United States, people of color have been disproportionately affected, whether in terms of lives lost, higher unemployment and economic hardship, or even by being left out of vaccine rollouts.

More generally, the pandemic has also highlighted a lack of resilience on several fronts including in supply chains, uneven access to social safety nets, and climate change. Building back better will mean making structural and systemic changes to tackle pre-existing weaknesses, as well as those arising from the pandemic. Governments need to act now to address the structural obstacles to growth, build resilience and sustainability; boost productivity and facilitate reallocation; and help people achieve a just and inclusive recovery.

How countries respond over the coming months will shape the recovery and the future of our economies.

Join OECD iLibrary and Choice/ACRL for a presentation of the latest economic outlook for the U.S. and major economies and a conversation on the labour market impacts of the pandemic in the US and the implications for social and economic inequality. The session will also discuss the economic policies needed for the economic recovery, both in the US and throughout the OECD.

Speakers:

  • Image of Patrick Lenain

    Patrick Lenain

    Assistant Director, Country Studies BranchEconomics Department OECD

    Mr. Lenain leads a team of economists recommending better policies to the governments of Australia, Bulgaria, China, Costa Rica, Denmark, Estonia, Malaysia, Thailand, United States, and Vietnam. He is also a co-manager of the OECD Global Forum on Productivity and organizes the periodic OECD Ministerial Summits on Productivity in Latin America and in Asia. Prior to the OECD, Mr. Lenain spent 15 years at the IMF where he served as the Senior IMF Resident Representative in Kyiv, Ukraine and a Deputy Division Head. He also served as Senior Advisor to the French Treasury and the European Commission. Mr. Lenain is adjunct Professor of Economics at Université de Paris Est. He has co-authored five books on macroeconomics and international economics. He has published in leading economic journals and frequently speaks on a wide range of economic policy challenges. He holds an M.A. in econometrics and PhD in economics from Université de Paris-Dauphine.

  • Image of Ben Westmore

    Ben Westmore

    Head of United States and Australia DeskEconomics Department OECD

    Mr. Westmore is currently a Deputy Head of Division in the Country Studies Branch of the Economics Department and is the Head of the United States and Australia desk. He has previously been Head of the Japan, Ireland and Portugal desks in the department. Before joining the OECD, he held positions as an economist at the Reserve Bank of Australia and in the financial sector.

  • Image of Carl Seth Romer

    Carl Seth Romer

    Economic ConsultantOECD

    Carl Romer is an Economic Consultant with the OECD US Desk. Romer works on economic forecasting in the US labor market. Outside of his work with the OECD, Romer works as a Research Assistant at the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution. Before working with the OECD, Romer interned with the Program for Race, Ethnicity and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute. Romer holds a bachelor’s degree from Howard University where he studied economics and philosophy.

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