Invest in the green economy and we'll recover from the Covid-19 crisis | Joseph Stiglitz

We must target public spending on green, labour intensive projects which have far more bang for their bucks than tax cuts

Although it seems like ancient history, it hasn't been that long since economies around the world began to close down in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Early in the crisis, most people anticipated a quick V-shaped recovery, on the assumption that the economy merely needed a short timeout. After two months of tender loving care and heaps of money, it would pick up where it left off.

It was an appealing idea. But now it is July, and a V-shaped recovery is probably a fantasy. The post-pandemic economy is likely to be anaemic, not only in countries that have failed to manage the pandemic (namely, the US), but even in those that have acquitted themselves well. The International Monetary Fund projects that by the end of 2021 the global economy will be barely larger than it was at the end of 2019 and that the US and European economies will still be about 4% smaller.

Related: The post-coronavirus economic recovery must be led by the US | Mohamed El-Erian