Abraham Gutman (Hunter College, Class of 2016), editorial writer at The Philadelphia Inquirer, interviews three renowned economists, including two Nobel Laureates, on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gutman talked with Princeton University’s Anne Case and Sir Angus Deaton (Nobel Prize in Economics, 2015) about their new book Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism, and how social distancing efforts to combat COVID-19 might temporarily increase rates of alcoholism and drug use among already vulnerable populations. However, ‘deaths of despair’ — those related to suicide, drug overdose, and alcohol related liver disease — will persist, and potentially increase, as a result of the economic fallout from COVID-19. Read the full article Anne Case and Sir Angus Deaton on the impact of social distancing measures on ‘deaths of despair’ here.

Gutman also talked to Columbia University’s Jospeh Stiglitz (Nobel Prize in Economics, 2001), who served as the Chief Economist of the World Bank, about the economic impact of the pandemic. Stiglitz discussed the importance of giving peopledirect cash immediately, and the increasingly diminished capacity of the federal government to execute solutions. Read the full article Joseph Stiglitz on the economic impact on COVID19 and the path out here.

Abraham was a former Public Policy Program student at Roosevelt House and did his BA/MA in Economics graduating in 2016. He participated in several Roosevelt House activities and was a Chief Information Officer for the Public Policy Program. He has been working at The Philadelphia Inquirer since June 2018, where he writes opinion columns and editorials primarily focused on drug policy, gun violence, and criminal justice. Follow him on Twitter ​@abgutman.