THE COVID-19 pandemic has put the global economy through a severe stress test. As accelerated stress tests do in medicine and engineering, revealing structural weaknesses in the systems being tested (complex human bodies, and complex machines like aircraft and motor vehicles), the pandemic has revealed dangerous weaknesses in designs of global supply chains, health systems and education systems, and in the designs of cities which could not provide the needs for sustainable incomes and healthy living for all their citizens. Millions of poor workers left Indian cities in which they were not cared for, to return to their villages from where they had come to these cities with hope for better lives. Public health systems failed to cope, even in rich countries. Foundational years of child education have been wasted around the world.
Never waste a crisis they say: crises are opportunities to make substantial reforms to put systems into better shape. The Indian economy was in crisis in 1991. The opportunity was seized for reforms and economic growth was accelerated. Reforms after the Asian financial crisis in 1997 were directed by the IMF and the World Bank. A wider global financial crisis followed in 2008 and G-7 countries stepped up to put global economic growth on track. Structural reforms after all these crises have resulted in larger gaps between wealth on top and the masses below.