The public finances and Covid-19: comparisons and lessons from the past

This event is part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science. Click here for information on other festival events.

At this event, senior researchers from the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the National Institute of Economic and Social Research will join together to look at how Covid-19 has impacted the public finances.

IFS Deputy Director Carl Emmerson will look at how the public finances over the current crisis compare to during the financial crisis, including the fiscal packages set out in response, the impact of the hit to economic output on revenues and spending and also how the subsequent evolution of the public finances compares to what is now being forecast.

NIESR Deputy Director Adrian Pabst will then present evidence on how changes to the outlook for the economy, and the degree of uncertainty around that, has in the past fed into changes in public spending and what this might mean for the path of spending in future.

After the two presentations, there will be plenty of time for questions.