Economist and finance professor Phillip Braun says he's not optimistic about the future of the economy, especially with recent surge of COVID-19 cases.Economic recovery in early 2021 is less than likely, predicts Kellogg professor of finance Phillip Braun, especially with recent surges in COVID-19 cases and new lockdown restrictions.
"It's going to take time for the pieces of the puzzle of the economy to fit back together again," said Braun. "It's not like one day we wake up and the vaccine's widespread and people are employed and they're spending. It has to put itself together before it jump-starts." "That's a negative signal about the employment situation," Braun said. "My expectation is that unemployment is going to deteriorate in the first and second quarters of 2021 because of the current pandemic spike."
But Braun cautions that the unemployment-insurance extension is unlikely to be sufficient. "Even as the vaccine rolls out, I can't think of any one sector of the economy that is going to really rebound quickly," he said.
"Many states have pushed their budgets to the limit. That lack of funding is going to dramatically reduce what they are going to be able to do, unfortunately," he said.
KelloggInsight this is terrible news