The COVID-19 pandemic has bolstered the case for large-scale government intervention in the economy and in ensuring social welfare, wrote RSIS Research Analyst Luca Farrow in an analysis. It has thrown into further doubt the neoliberal notion that shrinking the public sector to empower the private market will deliver optimal social and economic outcomes.

Luca Farrow is a Research Analyst with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. This is part of an RSIS Series.