19 January
Lawrence Henry Summers, an economist and former US Treasury secretary, shared his views on the most important pieces of US President-elect Joe Biden’s $1.9t stimulus package being the vaccination programmes and support extended to state and local governments.
Summers emphasised that the most significant component of the package is directed towards vaccinations efforts, with an allocation of $20bn towards the create of a national vaccine distribution plan, $50bn towards ramping up testing efforts, $350bn towards state local aid, $20bn towards transit systems, and $170bn towards helping schools re-open.
Importantly, he states that the plan reflects a keen desire to combine macroeconomic element with the structural fairness element.