Join ANU Crawford School of Public Policy’s Professor Warwick McKibbin to discuss the possible global economic impacts of Covid-19 and what governments should be doing to limit the damage.

As coronavirus spreads across the globe, new modelling from The Australian National University (ANU) is set to help policymakers respond to the economic costs in the face of a pandemic and as the virus evolves.

The research paper, written by Crawford School of Public Policy’s Professor Warwick McKibbin and Roshen Fernando, is the first wide-ranging global economic assessment of the effects of Covid-19.

Even in the paper’s ‘low severity scenario’, the estimated loss to global GDP is $US2.4 trillion, with more than 15 million deaths globally. The costs rise sharply as the level of severity increases, with the highest potential cost to global GDP rising to $US9 trillion.

The paper models seven possible scenarios, four which examine the impact of Covid-19 spreading to other countries outside of China, ranging from low to high severity. A seventh scenario examines a global impact where a mild pandemic occurs each year indefinitely.

Join Professor McKibbin for a discussion about the impacts of the possible global economic impacts of coronavirus, and why a coordinated policy response and greater investment in public health in all countries is a necessary response.