Direct benefit transfer need of the hour: Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo

Banerjee said that there was no need to immediate need to transfer all the money, but there should be assurance from the government about such transfer in future

Aggressive quantitative easing (QE) and generous direct benefit transfers (DBTs) are needed to tackle the slowdown caused by Covid-19, according to Nobel Laureates Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee.
 

Interacting with industrialists over a webinar organised by FICCI, Banerjee said it was time to take aggressive macro policy measures, and take risks even at the cost of inflation. “We should print money, and give that money, without worrying much about monetary targets… We can avoid 1929, and can be more like 2008-09 if we are more aggressive,” said Banerjee, adding that there were concerns over India being conservative in taking aggressive