By IANS,
New Delhi : The loss of confidence has pushed the US into a recession, but “cool” Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama can turn things around and restore the economy if he wins the elections, says Nobel laureate and eminent economist Amartya Sen.
“It (US) certainly is in a recession already. There is no question about that. The question is how deep a recession it is,” he told NDTV when asked about his assessment of the US economy.
Saying that the current recession is “shallow”, Sen stressed that the crisis was not caused by “some gigantic external problem” but due to the loss of confidence by the American people in the system.
“And that is usually how recessions happen. You lose confidence, you cut down your activities and as a result others cut down their activities,” he said.
The economist confessed that he was “fairly partisan about Obama” and pinned hopes on the first black presidential candidate in the US history to turn around the economy. “I am fairly partisan and I hope that Obama can win,” he said.
“His coolness is an advantage in the time of a financial crisis. When that happens, I think you will see the confidence turn around quickly,” he stressed.
Saying that it may take a few months to rebuild the economy, Sen said that if the cards are played well and backed by “clear-headed, intelligent thinking” people it would be possible to turn around “a fairly shallow recession”.
Sen also emphasized that India and China are less affected for now as their economies are not so much dependent on global economy, but added that the booming sectors have “a clear trade connection and those will definitely be affected”.
“In the long run we may be very well affected and we already are to a large extent,” he said.
Asking the Manmohan Singh government to be careful, Sen said that the governments of India, China and Brazil can take up “a lot of initiatives” that will not only protect them, but also help in speedy recovery of the global economy.