The world is living its worst scare since the global financial crisis (GFC) in the form of COVID-19, now officially declared a pandemic. Will the socioeconomic toll of thei pandemic be as large as that experienced during the GFC? In both the GFC and the current health crisis it is apparent that the markets will not produce a solution, and that aggressive policy intervention and globally coordinated national action is needed to slow, and ultimately stop, the spread of the epidemic and to minimize the size and time length of its economic fallout. In this blog post, the authors elaborate on the parallels between the current crisis and the global financial crisis.