"But while the Great Recession and the Covid recession were very different animals, it seems very reasonable to conclude from recent experience that the recovery from the global financial crisis could have been far more rapid, and the broader social costs of the crisis much reduced, had the fiscal response been more aggressive."
They differ in their causes (origins) and in the way monetary policy reacted, much better now than then. It was monetary policy that went a bit overboard this time around In the GR it remained "underboard"! Fiscal policy is not determinant for the differences observed.
"But while the Great Recession and the Covid recession were very different animals, it seems very reasonable to conclude from recent experience that the recovery from the global financial crisis could have been far more rapid, and the broader social costs of the crisis much reduced, had the fiscal response been more aggressive."
They differ in their causes (origins) and in the way monetary policy reacted, much better now than then. It was monetary policy that went a bit overboard this time around In the GR it remained "underboard"! Fiscal policy is not determinant for the differences observed.
I certainly agree that the monetary response has been different, in a very consequential way. But I can't agree that fiscal policy didn't matter.