Capitalism in a Time of Pandemic

Yesterday, August 5, I participated in a three-person panel discussion yesterday on “Capitalism in a time of Pandemic.” The videoconference was the fifth in a cycle of conferences on “The End of an Era: Where is politics going?” organized by the Universidad de Diego Portales and the Chilean Office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Santiago. 

Joining me on the panel were Kenneth Roberts, Professor of Political Science at Cornell University and an expert on Latin American Politics, and Nicolas Eyzaguirre, the former Finance Minister during the government of Ricardo Lago and the second government of Michelle Bachelet in Chile.

My comments in response to a series of three questions were all focused on Europe, and in particular whether this time was different for the EU in terms of the resilience of neo-liberal economic policies, meaning today’s pandemic in contrast with the Eurozone crisis, the role of technocrats in the EU, and the future of Green politics and the transition to more sustainable environmental policy.