Fukunari Kimura, Keio University and Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia: At the time of writing (late November 2020), East Asian countries have been relatively successful in containing the COVID-19 pandemic, though the situation has widely varied across countries. The Philippines and Indonesia, together with India, are still on the verge of an explosive outbreak while other countries are worrying about possible second and third waves.
The authors claim that physical shocks like COVID-19 are different from financial shocks such as the 2008–09 global financial crisis in that efficient and prepared government institutions matter considerably more than the oft-touted prescription of fixing macroeconomic fundamentals and injecting a macro stimulus to the economy. The authors are quite right in saying that at the stage of “emergency responses,” the containment of pandemic within the capacity of medical services must be prioritized. Even if some macroeconomic stimulus policy is implemented at...