
The Coronavirus Calls for Wartime Economic Thinking - uptown
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-coronavirus-calls-for-wartime-economic-thinking
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uptown
The key quote:

“It’s going to be catastrophic,” Shepherdson said bluntly. “This is an economy
built on discretionary consumption.” He was referring to all the nonessential
purchases that people make in their daily lives, things ranging from new
clothes and appliances to personal services such as spa sessions, meals in
restaurants, and Uber rides. According to Shepherdson, all this nonessential
stuff amounts to about forty per cent of the U.S.’s gross domestic product. In
other words, it is enormous, in terms of both its dollar contribution to the
economy and the number of people it employs.

