Saadia Zahidi on government spending, debt distress, the Iran protests, and more

Zahidi says social-safety nets must be customized and targeted, assesses approaches to deficit reduction and fiscal consolidation, and more. The PS Say More Newsletter | [View this message in a web browser]( [PS Say More]( This week in Say More, PS talks with Saadia Zahidi, Managing Director and Head of the Center for the New Economy and Society at the World Economic Forum. To read the full interview – in which Zahidi argues that social-safety nets must be customized and targeted to ensure efficiency, advocates a more responsible approach to deficit reduction and fiscal consolidation, describes the complex recipe for helping countries reap the benefits of greater female labor-force participation, and more – [click here](. Saadia Zahidi Says More... Syndicate: In June 2020, you [heralded]( the arrival of “an era of bigger – and perhaps bolder – government” policies in the wake of their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. More than two years later, do you think the pandemic’s potential to catalyze a “Great Reset” – closer “collaboration between businesses, public and government institutions, and workers” – has been realized, wasted, or something in between? What else can be done to accelerate it? Saadia Zahidi: Government spending over the last two years has been higher than before the pandemic, owing to the need to support households and businesses. But it has not always been accompanied by visionary thinking about how public resources can best be used to build resilience and open new growth paths for the future. Some countries have... [Continue reading]( [Subscribe now to PS Digital]( By the Way... PS: The World Economic Forum’s latest [Chief Economists Outlook]( warns that debt defaults are becoming [increasingly likely](. As monetary-policy tightening raises the costs of debt service for sovereign borrowers, a looming recession threatens to weaken revenues and increase their debt burdens further. What interventions are most urgently needed to support debt-distressed countries? SZ: The International Monetary Fund is [projecting]( global government debt to reach 91% of GDP in 2022, around 7.5 percentage points above pre-pandemic levels, while [around 60%]( of low-income countries are at high risk of, or are already in, debt distress. In the context of significant monetary tightening... [Continue reading]( [PS Say More: Nouriel Roubini on stagflation, debt distress, financial innovation, and more]( [Nouriel Roubini on stagflation, debt distress, financial innovation, and more]( Nouriel Roubini explains why advanced-economy central banks have only bad options, highlights barriers to tackling inequality, predicts that China’s growth slowdown will continue, and more. Roubini Professor Emeritus of Economics at New York University’s Stern School of Business, Chief Economist at Atlas Capital Team, CEO of Roubini Macro Associates, Co-Founder of TheBoomBust.com, and the author of [MegaThreats: Ten Dangerous Trends That Imperil Our Future, and How to Survive Them](. [Read now]( [Subscribe to PS Premium now.]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [LinkedIn]( Project Syndicate publishes and provides, on a not-for-profit basis, original commentary by the world's leading thinkers to more than 500 media outlets in over 150 countries. Receipt of this newsletter does not guarantee rights to re-publish any of its content. This newsletter is a service of [Project Syndicate](. [Change your newsletter preferences](. Follow us on [Facebook]( [Twitter]( and [YouTube](. © Project Syndicate, all rights reserved. [Unsubscribe from all newsletters](.