The Problem with Pre-Covid Levels: Owl Wisdom Podcast

Hello friends. This edition of The Owl Wisdom Podcast is prompted by the constant refrain that we all hear about returning to pre-Covid levels. Whether it is our day-to-day lives or the wider economy, the comparison is always with life before Covid.

Here – as in a previous edition titled The Big Reset – I argue that we need to use the pandemic to initiate real and meaningful reform in various critical areas that have been crying out for attention for several years and decades, and not wish for a return to pre-Covid levels in every aspect of life and work.

I hope you like listening to it and also agree that some areas of life do need reform, if we are to make progress. Below, you’ll also find links to further reading that you might find useful.

Links for further reading:

https://www.ndtv.com/video/shows/the-ndtv-dialogues/india-can-t-grow-at-8-9-for-next-few-years-author-ruchir-sharma-561081

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/expert-view/india-unlikely-to-see-pre-covid-output-level-before-march-2/articleshow/78245778.cms#:~:text=why%20the%20government’s-,The%20Indian%20economy%20is%20unlikely%20to%20achieve%20the%20same%20level,growth%20have%20been%20wiped%20out.

https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/featurephilia/story/medical-education-problems-327613-2016-07-06

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/still-a-long-way-to-go-to-raise-public-health-expenditure-to-2-5-per-cent-of-gdp/articleshow/70131459.cms

http://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/health-data.htm

https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/press-release/united-science-report-climate-change-has-not-stopped-covid19

https://www.unenvironment.org/annualreport/2019/index.php

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/14/climate-disasters-cost-650-billion-over-3-years-morgan-stanley.html#:~:text=Climate%2Drelated%20disasters%20have%20cost,new%20report%20from%20Morgan%20Stanley.&text=That%20equals%200.66%20percent%20of%20North%20American%20GDP.

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-analytics/our-insights/can-artificial-intelligence-help-society-as-much-as-it-helps-business

Placing a visible hand on the digital revolution

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/making-global-trade-rules-fit-for-technology-by-dani-rodrik-2020-09

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Shoshana Zuboff

This edition of the Owl Wisdom Podcast uses the music tracks, Greensleeves, by Mozart Fez from mp3quack.com and Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt by Malmo Symphony Orchestra from yourclassical.org in the main sections and the music of Twisterium from freebackgroundtracks.net in the introduction, interludes and end sections and thanks them all for the same.