The speed and extent of the shock to the world economy from the coronavirus crisis is unprecedented – and so an unprecedented policy response is required. How long this crisis will continue, and what the world will look like when the worst passes, remain worryingly uncertain. While public health is the clear priority, never have the challenges for economic policymakers been more pressing. Some lessons appear to have been learned from the last financial crisis, when the policy response was too slow and too timid. Minimising the damage caused in the meantime and stopping the economic crisis spreading further than is necessary is important and difficult work.

Source: The Irish Times March 20, 2020 00:00 UTC