The 2008 financial crisis will be seen as a dry run for Covid-19 cataclysm | Kenneth Rogoff

Short-term collapse in global output likely to rival or exceed any recession of the last 150 years

With each passing day, the 2008 global financial crisis increasingly looks like a mere dry run for today's economic catastrophe. The short-term collapse in global output now under way already seems likely to rival or exceed that of any recession in the last 150 years.

Even with all-out efforts by central banks and fiscal authorities to soften the blow, asset markets in advanced economies have cratered and capital has been pouring out of emerging markets at a breathtaking pace. A deep economic slump and financial crisis are unavoidable. The key questions now are how bad the recession will be and how long it will last.

Related: World must combat looming debt meltdown in developing countries | Joseph Stiglitz

The US public-health response has been catastrophic, owing to a combination of incompetence and neglect at many levels of governance, including the highest. If things continue the way they are, the death toll in the New York City area alone could rival that of northern Italy.