IMF Working Papers

A TIP Against the COVID-19 Pandemic

By Reda Cherif, Fuad Hasanov

July 3, 2020

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Format: Chicago

Reda Cherif, and Fuad Hasanov. A TIP Against the COVID-19 Pandemic, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2020) accessed October 3, 2024

Disclaimer: IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.

Summary

A universal testing and isolation policy is the most viable way to vanquish a pandemic. Its implementation requires: (i) an epidemiological rather than clinical approach to testing, sacrificing accuracy for scalability, convenience and speed; and (ii) state intervention to ramp up production, similar to True Industrial Policy (TIP), on a global level to achieve a scale and speed the market alone would fail to provide. We sketch a strategy to tackle market failures and implement smart testing, especially in densely populated areas. The estimated cost of testing is dwarfed by its return, mitigating the economic fallout of the pandemic.

Subject: COVID-19, Early warning systems, Expenditure, Financial crises, Health, Labor, Population and demographics, Public expenditure review

Keywords: Containment policy, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Early warning systems, Epidemic, False positive, Federal government, Financial support, Global, Growth, Industrial policy, Manufacturing, Pharma company, Private sector, Production capacity, Public expenditure review, SIR model, State intervention, Test kit, Testing rate, Value chain, WP

Publication Details

  • Pages:

    47

  • Volume:

    ---

  • DOI:

    ---

  • Issue:

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  • Series:

    Working Paper No. 2020/114

  • Stock No:

    WPIEA2020114

  • ISBN:

    9781513548852

  • ISSN:

    1018-5941