This is a summary of economic crises from a History of Economic Thought perspective. It also contains information on COVID-19 in Kenya alongside its economic impact. Lastly, the presentation is meant to arouse questions and solutions to the current recession that has been caused by COVID-19.
 

The corona virus shocked everyone, from private institutions to governments. It presented a dual crisis which had not been experienced before, a health crisis and an economic one. The effects of the former would likely be signicficant in the short term while the effects of the latter are likely to be felt in the long term. The country and regional idiosyncrasies implies that some regions will experience a much greater shock than others. Whilst COVID19 is a global pandemic, this article discusses the challenges and opportunities that this crisis presents for Africa.

The pandemic brings new information every day.  Factors contributing to the large differences in trajectories are the subject of intense investigation (e.g. Helsinki Graduate School of Economics Situation Room 2020).  This column summarises findings from our study of island states that have received relatively little attention (Melo et al. 2020). We cover the Mauritian case in some detail, and compare it with 19 other island states from Our World in Data (OWD) with populations in the range of 100,000 to 10 million.