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Progressive Political Economy in the Age of Coronavirus
After many days of tense negotiations, the Senate finally passed a massive stimulus bill on Wednesday night, in response to the economic crisis which has been unleashed by COVID-19, or the coronavirus. The pace of the negotations was painfully slow, compared to the quick responses of European countries such as Denmark, whose politicians crafted a strategy in about 24 hours. Yet the style and size of U.S.’s response comes closer to Denmark’s progressive, state-driven strategy than what has characterized American political economy in the age of neoliberalism. American neoliberalism, sustained by the ideology of “small government” (in the words of conservatism) and “free markets,” is typically averse to intervention by the heavy hand of government, preferring instead to leave entrepreneurship and productivity to the ingenuity of the private sector, exclusively. As I have written at The Daily Caller, it may be that the coronavirus will expose the flaws of this model, revealing how desperately America needs its government to implement a more progressive industrial policy, which would secure the productivity and economic well-being of the nation. The stimulus package which the Senate passed on Wednesday may be the first step towards such a policy.
It is worth drawing attention to a few aspects of the 880-page bill itself which are particularly relevant…
