No one can be sure how long it will take for the economy to recover from its current woes. However, of one thing we can be certain: Much as the 1930s Great Depression and the 2008-2009 Great Recession had a profound and lasting impact on the economy, so too will the novel coronavirus epidemic.

Since 1945, the United States has experienced 12 economic recessions. However, never before has it experienced an economic recession that has been quite as deep and quite as sudden as the one that it is now experiencing. Nor has the U.S. succumbed to a major economic recession at the same time that practically every other economy in the world, too, was experiencing a deep economic slump.