The pandemic is widening the gaps that divide us
By ATB Economics 15 October 2020 1 min read
The pandemic has highlighted a number of large divides in our society and economy.
There is the divide between those who can work remotely from home and those who can’t.
There is the digital divide between those who have the equipment, online access and skills to connect and compete as the Fourth Industrial Revolution rages on around us.
There is the divide between the Canadians who have the economic resources to ride the waves generated by the pandemic with relative ease and those who either have, or might yet, be pulled under by them.
And while things are plenty bad enough here in Canada, there is the divide between advanced economies like our own and the emerging and developing economies that are home to billions of people.
According to recent comments by Gita Gopinath, Chief Economist and Director of the Research Department at the International Monetary Fund, “the divergence in income prospects between advanced economies and emerging and developing economies, excluding China, triggered by this pandemic is projected to worsen.”
She adds that “the cumulative hit to per capita income for emerging and developing economies, excluding China, over this year and next is projected to be greater than that for advanced economies.”
Simply put, those who can least afford it, will be hit the hardest by the pandemic. As a result, extreme poverty is expected to rise for the first time in over two decades.
Knowing this, perhaps the pandemic will inspire us to work to shrink the gaps that divide us even as it works to exacerbate them?