The COVID-19 Recession Is Unfolding Faster than the Great Recession – and So Is the Response

The COVID-19 Recession Is Unfolding Faster than the Great Recession – and So Is the Response: The current economic contraction caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic appears to be larger than the Great Recession and is unfolding much more quickly. Over the last four weeks, 22 million people have filed for unemployment benefits – the same number that filed over the entire year of 2008. Social distancing and Shelter-in-Place measures have halted a substantial share of economic activity, leading to economic declines that would normally unfold over months to instead happen in days. The response, too, has been far more rapid.