Monetary and fiscal policy played a significant role in lessening the pandemic’s impact on the economy. The Fed has done its part, ensuring that there is plenty of liquidity in the financial system. Further fiscal support is needed, but has been difficult to achieve. As a consequence, growth is likely to slow into early 2021. However, growth should pick up as vaccines are rolled out. Beyond that, the new administration will have an ambitious agenda. There’s been a lot of bad news during the pandemic, but one clear positive is that financial conditions did not deteriorate sharply. That wasn’t clear early on, as credit ... (full story)