## Healing the Fractures of the Global Economy

_IMF Blog, September 1, 2020_

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [Healing the Fractures of the Global Economy](https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2020/09/01/healing-the-fractures-of-the-global-economy)

## Other formats

- [Markdown version](/en/blogs/articles/2020/09/01/healing-the-fractures-of-the-global-economy/index.md)
- [Structured JSON version](/en/blogs/articles/2020/09/01/healing-the-fractures-of-the-global-economy/index.json)
- [Bundle manifest](/en/blogs/articles/2020/09/01/healing-the-fractures-of-the-global-economy/bundle-manifest.json)

## Bibliographic details
- Authors: converting debt liabilities into investments that protect children. Other contributors focus on the role of
- Published: September 1, 2020

---

### Overview and context
- Publication date: September 1, 2020
- Author: Gita Bhatt
- Framing: The COVID-19 crisis is described as the most “unmeasurable of times,” making it hard to quantify high uncertainty and risk (quote attributed to the IMF’s Geoffrey Okamoto).
- Central observation: The age of COVID-19 has exposed, widened, and created economic and social fractures across the global economy.

### Key fault lines highlighted
- Disparities among workers:
  - Young workers
  - Female workers
  - Least educated workers
- Public systems and structural vulnerabilities:
  - Frailties in public health systems
  - Precariousness of work
  - The digital divide
- Fiscal pressures:
  - Governments face higher spending needs and ballooning debts.
- Social justice:
  - The pandemic has brought to light the long simmering issue of racial injustice.

### Major themes and proposed directions
- Calls for rethinking priorities and economic structure toward a future that is:
  - More equitable
  - More adaptable
  - More sustainable
  - More resilient
- International cooperation:
  - Ian Goldin: “The networked problems of our time are amenable to networked solutions,” arguing for cooperation among governments, civil society, and business.
- Rewriting economic rules:
  - Joseph Stiglitz: Advocates rewriting rules to protect workers and the environment; calls for greater global and national solidarity.
- Debt challenges and remedies:
  - Carmen Reinhart, Kenneth Rogoff, and others: Consider approaches to handle a coming wave of debt restructuring for the poorest countries.
  - Kevin Watkins: Urges debt relief for the poorest countries, including converting debt liabilities into investments that protect children.
- Role of technology, climate, and public health:
  - Contributors focus on new technologies, climate, public health, and vaccine development as key areas for action.
- Addressing racism within economics:
  - The IMF’s Ratna Sahay and coauthors: Grapple with race and racism in the economics profession and emphasize that addressing biases begins at home.

### Outlook and concluding sentiment
- Transformation possibility: The post-pandemic world will likely be transformed in important ways.
- Conditional optimism: If the crisis prompts a radical reset with policies that invest in people and reflect a shared sense of human fate, the world can emerge more resilient.
- Closing metaphor: Quotation of Leonard Cohen — “There’s a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”

*Source: Healing the Fractures of the Global Economy, September 1, 2020.*

---


## References

- [Gita Bhatt](https://blogs.imf.org/bloggers/gita-bhatt/)
- [writes the IMF’s Geoffrey Okamoto](https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2020/09/balancing-risk-and-resilience-geoffrey-okamoto.htm)
- [racial injustice](https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2020/09/the-economic-cost-of-racism-losavio.htm)
- [This issue of Finance &Development](https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2020/09/index.htm)
- [writes Ian Goldin](https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2020/09/rethinking-global-resilience-ian-goldin.htm)
- [Joseph Stiglitz argues](https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2020/09/COVID19-and-global-inequality-joseph-stiglitz.htm)
- [Carmen Reinhart, Kenneth Rogoff, and others consider ways](https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2020/09/debt-pandemic-reinhart-rogoff-bulow-trebesch.htm)
- [Kevin Watkins urges debt relief](https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2020/09/debt-relief-for-the-poorest-kevin-watkins.htm)
- [new technologies](https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2020/09/technology-resilience-and-inequality-adriano.htm)
- [climate](https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2020/09/investing-in-a-green-recovery-volz.htm)
- [public health](https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2020/09/overhauling-health-systems-fernandes.htm)
- [vaccine development](https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2020/09/vaccine-finance-epidemics-and-prevention-bloom.htm)
- [race and racism in the economics profession](https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2020/09/race-and-racism-in-economics-IMF.htm)
- [shared sense of our fate](https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2020/09/cultivating-global-financial-cooperation-eichengreen.htm)

_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2020/09/01/healing-the-fractures-of-the-global-economy_