While many recent proposals for reforming capitalism would substantially change the way our economies operate, they do not fundamentally alter the narrative about how market economies should work; nor do they represent a radical departure for economic policy. Most critically, they elide the central challenge we must address: reorganizing production. Covid-19 has exacerbated deep fault lines in the global economy, starkly exposing the divisions and inequalities of our current world. It has also multiplied and amplified the voices of those calling for far-reaching reforms. When even the Davos set is issuing calls for a “global reset of capitalism,” you know…

Given the importance of broken supply relationships in the current downturn, this recession is likely to be unique. To anticipate the recovery therefore requires understanding the Covid-19 pandemic’s effects on global supply chains. For nearly three decades, global supply chains were the quiet engines of economic globalization. From 1990 to 2008, they drove the rapid expansion of trade, accounting for 60-70% of its growth. More than a decade later, however, they have stalled – and may in some areas be going into reverse. The strain on global supply chains partly reflects the turn by many governments toward protectionist policies since…