, Columnist
Markets Can Brace for Some Painful Treatment
The immediate effects of measures to fight the coronavirus will be costly for economies, albeit necessary.
Drastic measures are riskier when the economic patient is weak.
Photographer: STR/AFP/Getty Images
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It’s still unclear whether the coronavirus outbreak is coming under control. In human terms, the news continues to be dreadful, and to cast Chinese authorities in a negative light. But the data, to the extent that we can trust them, suggest the disease is spreading at a slower rate. That is positive, even if the death toll is now greater than for SARS 17 years ago.