This time is seriously different

This pandemic has exposed the myth of false binaries, that complex modern problems can be solved either by purist markets or governments alone. State-market-civil society cooperation is the only viable way forward.

THE World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared Covid-19 a global pandemic. Wall Street has marked the largest drop since the October 1987 stock market crash. Gold is breaking record highs, oil prices are back to 19-year lows and bond yields are getting close to zero even in the United States.

In 2009, after the global financial crisis, economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff wrote an influential book called This Time is Different, but their real message was the opposite – “we have been here before”.