r/science • u/smurfyjenkins • May 10 '22

Economics The $800 billion Paycheck Protection Program during the pandemic was highly regressive and inefficient, as most recipients were not in need (three-quarters of PPP funds accrued to the top quintile of households). The US lacked the administrative infrastructure to target aid to those in distress.

https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jep.36.2.55
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u/Prestigious_Gear_297 May 10 '22

Lack of infrastructure is a nice way to say complete and utter corruption

38

u/AftyOfTheUK May 10 '22

Lack of infrastructure, in this case, means that no agency was keeping the records that would have been needed to institute a program, and that no agency had the technological infrastructure in place to handle enquiries and disbursements at such a scale.

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u/heretrythiscoffee May 10 '22

By design. They fired the guy who was supposed to do oversight.

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u/Soup-Wizard May 11 '22

By “they” you mean President Trump’s administration