Fight against coronavirus from companies

Last Tuesday, April 7, we held our first Aspen Ideas Online, given the state of alarm in our country as a result of the crisis caused by COVID-19.

We believe that Aspen’s civic mission is more important today than ever: we need to create spaces for reflection and dialogue about the future of our society, dedicated to analyzing and thinking together about the way out of the current crisis from the perspective of values-inspired leadership. and committed to the ideals of democracy. And so, over the next few weeks and into the summer, we’ve put together a series of ten digital discussions about our changing environment.

The session that took place on April 7 was about how to “Fight against coronavirus from companies” and, in it, the speakers were Santiago Barrenechea, President of the PwC Foundation and Trustee of Aspen Institute España, and Román Escolano, Senior Advisor – Economic Context at Llorente y Cuenca, former Minister of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness and Former Trustee of Aspen Institute España.

Based on their reflections, a group of prominent businessmen, executives, journalists, academics and representatives of the third sector discussed how the current crisis is affecting the Spanish and European economy, how the situation is expected to evolve and how this can be fought from companies to lessen the negative effects.

The speakers recommended several readings that we would like to share with you:

• Mario Draghi, We face a war against coronavirus and must mobilize accordingly, Financial Times.
• Martin Wolf, This pandemic is an ethical challenge, Financial Times.
• Richard Baldwin & Beatrice Weder di Mauro, Mitigating the COVID Economic Crisis: Act Fast and Do Whatever It Takes, CEPR.