In trying to gauge the coronavirus crisis, we are all struggling for historical reference points. Which is the historical example to choose?

The turmoil in the financial markets and the talk of bailouts reminds us of 2008. But though the shock comes at the end of a long economic upswing, it is not organically related to that long period of growth. Some overstretched businesses are getting their comeuppance, no doubt. But even the airlines, the firms everyone loves to hate, are not to blame.

It isn’t a black swan event, either. A pandemic risk was well-mapped by experts. We just chose to ignore them, all of us. And now we are making an unprecedented public policy choice to shut down the economy.

Read the full article at the Washington Post