Repercussions of Pandemics on Markets and Policy

The COVID-19 pandemic that we are experiencing is both tragic and shocking. There is no question that, except in some Asian countries trained by prior infectious outbreaks, most policy makers around the world have been ill-prepared to respond to the crisis. The effects of the coronavirus on our mental and physical health has been indeed calamitous, and the economic and financial impacts for many have been truly unfortunate. Furthermore, the extreme nature of the event is challenging researchers to compile and interpret new evidence that is arriving at a rapid pace. The editors Hui Chen, Thierry Foucault, Jeffrey Pontiff, and Nikolai Roussanov and contributing authors are to be commended for assembling and collating a thought-provoking collection of papers. More time and study will be needed to fully sift through the evidence and to glean the lessons to be learned from this pandemic for policy makers and investors. But the evidence and insights in this volume are a very good start.