In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity, said Albert Einstein. And it seems that world leaders around the world are willing to seize a once-in-a-century pandemic as the springboard to act for a dual objective: reviving the economy with huge spending plans and, at the same time, initiating the unavoidable effort, in terms of investments, that the world needs to tackle global warming.
But is it enough to achieve both objectives? US President Joe Biden's proposed infrastructure spending plan, budgeted for $2.3trn over ten years, represents 8.8% of US GDP. That is more than, but in the same order of magnitude, as Barack Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 at 5.7% of US GDP. Furthermore, Biden's plan should complement previous Covid relief plans, making the US fiscal effort likely to bring the economy back to its pre-pandemic path. To put this into perspective, the plan is significantly more than the post-WWII Marshall Plan conceived to rebuild ...
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