Why Joe Biden is better than Donald Trump for the US economy | Nouriel Roubini

It's a myth that Republicans handle the economy better - US recessions almost always occur under the GOP

Joe Biden has consistently held a wide polling lead over US President Donald Trump ahead of November's election. But, despite Trump's botched response to the Covid-19 pandemic - a failure that has left the economy far weaker than it otherwise would have been - he has maintained a marginal edge on the question of which candidate would be better for the US economy. Thanks to Trump, a country with just 4% of the world's population now accounts for more than 20% of total Covid-19 deaths - an utterly shameful outcome, given America's advanced (albeit expensive) healthcare system.

The presumption that Republicans are better than Democrats at economic stewardship is a longstanding myth that must be debunked. In our 1997 book, Political Cycles and the Macroeconomy, the late (and great) Alberto Alesina and I showed that Democratic administrations tend to preside over faster growth, lower unemployment and stronger stock markets than Republican presidents do.

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