Harvard Kennedy School Professor Ricardo Hausmann and the Growth Lab COVID-19 Task Force are helping developing countries around the globe develop economic and epidemiological responses to the coronavirus pandemic. Hausmann tells PolicyCast host Thoko Moyo that although some countries are having success in controlling the virus and in developing innovative approaches to restoring economic activity, the pandemic will be almost certainly be a "very, very serious headache" until a vaccine is widely available.
Ricardo Hausmann, the founder and director of Harvard Kennedy School’s Growth Lab, is helping developing countries around the globe create capacity to model the coronavirus pandemic and develop economic and epidemiological responses.
The Growth Lab COVID-19 Task Force explores the macroeconomic and fiscal implications of the pandemic and offers strategic guidance on policy decisions for collaborating nations including Albania, Ethiopia, El Salvador, Honduras, Peru, Namibia, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia.
For more about this effort, Growth Lab COVID-19 Task Force, please visit the Growth Lab COVID-19 Task Force home page.
Under Hausmann’s leadership, the Growth Lab, which is based in the Center for International Development, has grown into one of the world’s most well regarded and influential hubs for research on international development. Hausmann has served as principal investigator for more than 50 research initiatives in nearly 30 countries and is the Rafik Hariri Professor of the Practice of International Political Economy at Harvard Kennedy School.