URI economist: RI’s post-COVID economic recovery could take up to five years

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — A local economist predicts it could take up to five years for Rhode Island’s economy to fully recover from the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

University of Rhode Island economics professor Leonard Lardaro joined 12 News Now at 4 on Wednesday, and said 2020 was a “repeat” of the 2008 financial crisis, “but much worse.”

“We don’t really have the dynamism in our economy,” Lardaro said, contending that the state of Rhode Island’s economy pre-pandemic wasn’t all that good.

Lardaro said the state doesn’t focus enough on investment-oriented activity, and doesn’t believe another infusion of federal coronavirus relief money will condense the recovery time all that much.

Watch the full conversation with Lardaro in the video above.