Adam Tooze looks at how Covid-19 ravaged the global economy, where it leaves us now, and debates what’s to come.

In the wake of Covid-19 the world’s economies collapsed: stock markets fell faster and harder than at any time since 1929, currencies across the world plunged, investors panicked, and even gold was sold.

In a matter of weeks, the world’s economy was brought to an abrupt halt by governments trying to contain a spiralling public health catastrophe. Over three billion adults were furloughed; flights were grounded; supply chains broken; industries from tourism to oil to hospitality collapsed overnight, leaving hundreds of millions of people unemployed. Central banks responded with unprecedented interventions, just to keep their economies on life-support. For the first time since the Second World War, the entire global economic system contracted. The World Bank believes that up to $10 trillion in lifetime earnings were lost.

There’s still a long way to go before the Covid-19 impact is settled and we see what the new world will look like. There’s no better guide than Adam Tooze in surveying the wreckage and looking at where we might be headed next.

Adam Tooze is in discussion with Bristol Ideas’ Director, Andrew Kelly.

This event is part of the second ‘Is it time for Universal Basic Income? conference organised with the University of Bath Institute for Policy Research (IPR).

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Adam Tooze: What is the Long-Term Economic Impact of the Pandemic?