, Columnist
Undead Economies Are the Price of Mini-Lockdowns
We’re in a half-open, half-closed netherworld that makes it hard to unwind emergency stimulus.
Netherworld of the unending lockdown.
Photographer: Yawar Nazir/Getty Images
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After pocket lockdowns, get ready for pint-sized recoveries.
From Tokyo to Miami, authorities are imposing localized curbs on social and commercial life in an an attempt to constrain resurgent waves of the coronavirus without locking down completely. Targeted mini-measures were designed to avoid the devastating contractions of the last quarter, yet they are inevitably undermining the return to economic health. That reality was borne out in Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's dour view of the world economy this week.