Books on the Economic Impact of Coronavirus

The headlines say it all: "World economy set for heaviest blow since Great Depression" or "Why a 50% Drop in US GDP isn't as bad as it seems." As well as being a human story, the coronavirus/Covid-19 pandemic is also very much an economic story.

It's still a bit early for books on coronavirus's economic consequences—though one or two books have come to our attention. One is by Richard Baldwin (whose books have been recommended a number of times on Five Books, including by former US Treasury secretary Larry Summers). Together with Simon Evenett of the University of St Gallen, they've published a book on Covid-19 and trade policy, with detailed arguments about why protectionist responses (like export curbs) are not only unethical but also completely counter-productive.

Also in April, MIT Press rushed out a digital book, Economics in the Age of COVID-19 by Joshua Gans, an economist at the Rotman School of Management. This analyses the economic costs and choices we face as we live through a pandemic like coronavirus, and how some of the normal rules do not apply.

But it's never too early to reflect on what economic history has to teach us about the wider implications of what we're going through—and the difficult choices that lie in the months and years ahead. Below is our interview with Portuguese macroeconomist Ricardo Reis—conducted at the height of the coronavirus crisis—on some of the books that can help us think clearly about the challenges we face. We've also included some older interviews that may be relevant.