The huge coronavirus bailouts will need to be paid back. Or will they?

Proponents of modern monetary theory believe that countries can and should keep printing as much money as they need

Treasury officials have spent the last couple of weeks asking themselves how much the exchequer should spend fighting coronavirus. Curled up with laptops in the spare room or on the kitchen table, banished from their neoclassical headquarters, they have debated how many borrowed billions ought to be devoted to rescuing companies from bankruptcy and households from destitution.

Thinking about what a nation should spend when its income falls off a cliff, and how much it will owe as a consequence, is especially mind-boggling for conservative policymakers emerging from 10 years of austerity. Many have spent their entire careers telling voters that paying back what the country has borrowed is of paramount importance.

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