Ricerc@Sapienza

The COVID-19 pandemic is reshaping the world economy at a pace never seen
before. Both supply- and demand-side conditions have been affected, putting all relevant
dimensions of the economy under unprecedent stress.
At the time of writing this introduction, the virus is continuing to infect and kill
large numbers of people in several countries, especially in the US, Brazil and India.
In Europe, the contagion curve has flattened almost everywhere through the widespread
application of draconian lockdown and social distancing measures. By drastically
reducing interpersonal contacts, such measures were instrumental to mitigate
the health consequences of the pandemic. At the same time, they caused a dramatic
drop in global GDP and employment, resulting in a major economic slowdown
which is paving the way for a recession even worse than the one triggered by the
Great Financial Crisis of 2008.