Reviews

Before Covid-19 few economic commentators who thought about big economic risks pointed to a pandemic.  Yet, we are now living with the profound impacts of both the pandemic and the policy responses to it. David Kotok and his coauthors have produced a highly valuable examination of the crisis that began in 2020, its historical antecedents, and its lessons.  David’s book is both timely and most helpful in anticipating the inevitable next one prophesied by many experts. 

The Fed and the Flu: Parsing Pandemic Economic Shocks by David R. Kotok, Michael Englund, Tristan Erwin, and Elizabeth Sweet is an important compendium of the history of pandemics, their effects on societies and economies, the policy actions taken to address both the health and economic effects, and recommendations drawn from these historical experiences. David Kotok, a financial market practitioner and scholar, provides insights from his decades of interest in the effects of pandemics on people and the economy. All policymakers will benefit by considering the lessons the authors draw from the recent COVID-19 pandemic so that they are better prepared to address future pandemics.... [Read Loretta Mester's full review of a July 2024 draft.]

The Fed & the Flu, Parsing Pandemic Economic Shocks is a monumental journey through time aimed at understanding the impact of pandemics on individuals, society, the economy and on policy responses. The latter vary in their objectives, some to preserve the power of ruling classes within their empires, and some to protect the social fabric and well-functioning of societies. Invariably, the economic impact of mass contagious illness is profound and often long-lasting. The striking and remarkable conclusion is that whether through antiquity, the Middle Ages, the pre-industrial and industrial eras, the modern scientific times or through the advent of the technological and AI revolutions, the responses from large segments of the population carry a disturbingly similar tendency: a burgeoning lack of trust in governing entities.... [Read Kathleen Stephansen's full review.]