Imagine a country, a major Western economic power, where the coronavirus arrived late but the government, instead of denying and delaying, acted early. It was ready with tests and contact tracing to “flatten the curve” swiftly and limited its death rate to orders of magnitude lower than that of any other major Western industrial nation. The strengths Germany is showing make it the large economy most likely to thrive in the post-pandemic world. The coronavirus is accelerating an inward turn among national economies that began with the global financial crisis of 2008. Only the virtual side of the world economy is booming, as people work, play and shop on the internet.

Source: International New York Times July 19, 2020 21:56 UTC