Come together: Recovery requires greater cooperation

[This article was originally published on Reuters Breakingviews.]

By William Rhodes and Stuart Mackintosh

The coronavirus threatens thousands, possibly millions of lives across the globe. It is first and foremost a health crisis and the disease must be beaten, and the curve of Covid-19’s spread must be flattened for our lives to return to something approaching normalcy. But what of the economic damage, our governments’ responses, and the outlook going forward?

Should we expect a V-shaped recovery – a rapid rebound from an economic standstill? In our view it is increasingly likely that the world faces a longer, harder, much more fitful, difficult path to normalcy. We must gird ourselves for the long haul. That requires much greater coordination internationally of our responses to maximize the impact. So far that crucial piece of the puzzle has been missing.