Tyler Cowen: uncertainty

Transcript context

…Yeah, I think that’s true. It’s fascinating how many calls there have been in the last couple of days for relaxing various kinds of regulations, the most obvious being FDA approval for testing for the virus, relaxing HIPAA regulations, privacy regulations on telemedicine so that older people can get medical care without having to go out into public. Some of these things, of course, you’re going to have longer-term consequences. We may decide some of these regulations weren’t so productive to start with. I don’t know, but you are painting a much more dire picture than I expected. I would say that if you are right, Donald Trump will not be reelected. You’re suggesting he’s going to be in the middle of a major recession. Accusations that he bungled the opening of this and unemployment in the 20% range, he’s cooked. I’m not sure that’s true about Trump. If you think of this as analogous to a wartime event, clearly FDR did not manage Pearl Harbor very well, but he certainly was reelected. Some electorates, possibly still ours, have a tendency to stick with the incumbent in situations that feel like war time. I don’t know if that’s still true, but I wouldn’t leap to the conclusion that it’s not. Interesting.…

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