Reconstructing the Post-COVID-19 Economy: Should Countries Focus Efforts on Domestic or International Reconstruction?

     Hello delegates! When researching and formulating solutions for Topic A, with respect to re-building the post-COVID economy, it is important that each country consider whether they should focus efforts on economic rebuilding and funding on a domestic scale or, rather, an international scale. 

    The topic for this blogpost came to mind when I was reading the transcript of the Brookings Institution podcast titled, "Reimagining the global economy for a post-COVID-19", which I would recommend reading to gain more insight on issues ranging from the purpose of the IMF and World Bank in reconstructing the economy to applying technological change to many low-skilled jobs to boost productivity in the economy. 

    Within this podcast, one interesting and key point was brought about in which one of the speakers  mentioned that international monetary and financial institutions, such as the IMF, should play a large and important role in re-building the economy, especially in terms of being able to provide loans and funding to low-income countries. The speaker also emphasized that domestic interests of each country's economy do in fact align with global interests; therefore, it is imperative that developed countries, such as the United States and United Kingdom should be making an effort to provide funding to low-income countries that are heavily burdened with debt as a result of the impacts of COVID on their economies. 

    However, another speaker argued that rather than focusing on international cooperation as an initial point of global economic recovery, each country, including low-income and developing countries, should first focus on building up productivity and benefits for workers within their domestic economy. This may include taking advantage of certain technologies to increase productivity levels of workers, such as having low-skilled workers, like electricians, utilize the internet to advertise their business. In addition, two of the speakers argued that domestic benefits for workers were highly necessary, such as implementing higher minimum wages and healthcare benefits on a national level. 

    Overall, two perspectives are argued: one in which emphasis on international multilateral institutions are placed and one in which domestic economies are given initial importance to combat the global COVID-19 induced recession. What would your country's specific policy be in regards to this? Would your country have the funds to contribute to funding low-income and developing economies?