Star Economist Says Pandemic Savings Buildup May Boost Recovery
Clark medalist Emi Nakamura says this unusual feature of the Covid downturn could make a big difference when restrictions on spending go away.
Emi Nakamura, an economics professor at the University of California at Berkeley, was awarded the John Bates Clark Medal last year. The American Economic Association gives the medal annually to the “American economist under the age of 40 who is judged to have made the most significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge.” Nakamura’s work focuses on macroeconomic policy and business cycles, deploying novel datasets and empirical techniques to reexamine long-standing assumptions that have undergirded mainstream economic models for decades. Nakamura spoke with Bloomberg Markets in late August about how this perspective has become increasingly relevant as the pandemic has forced policymakers to throw out their old playbooks.
MATTHEW BOESLER: How has your work helped you think about the economic upheaval brought about by this pandemic?