Includes bibliographical references and index.

When the news first began to trickle out of China about a new virus in December 2019, risk-averse financial markets were alert to its potential for disruption. Yet they could never have predicted the total economic collapse that would follow, as stock markets fell faster and harder than at any time since 1929, currencies across the world plunged, investors panicked, and even gold was sold. In a matter of weeks, the world's economy was brought to an abrupt halt. Flights were grounded; supply chains broken; industries from tourism to oil to hospitality collapsed overnight. Central banks responded with unprecedented interventions, just to keep their economies on life-support. The pandemic struck the three great global economic hubs - China, Europe and the United States. This book tells the story of that shutdown. We do not yet know how this story ends, or what new world we will find on the other side.