We are living in a moment of unprecedented crisis. The international spread of COVID-19 and the measures taken by governments to halt transmission of the virus are happening at a scale unlike anything seen in our lifetimes. As we grapple with the implications of social distancing and the tragic loss of human life, we need resources to help us make sense of this crisis. The MIT Press mission challenges us to meet the need for reliable information at such a time. In this spirit, we offer the MIT Press First Reads series. These rapidly produced, digital-first titles will provide expert insight to inform matters of urgent local and global consequence. Our first book of the series is Economics in the Age of COVID-19 by Joshua Gans. In this book, economist Joshua Gans steps back from the short-term chaos to take a clear and systematic look at how economic choices are being made in response to COVID-19. He outlines the phases of the pandemic economy, from containment to reset to recovery and enhancement. The publication of this book reflects our effort to respond quickly to the need for timely information without sacrificing rigor or editorial quality. This eBook was written in the midst of the unfolding crisis, with input from expert peer reviewers. We plan to publish an updated edition of this book in both print and electronic formats in the fall of 2020, with additional content addressing questions and issues that arise over the next few months, and responding to feedback received from an open peer review process taking place on PubPub, an open access platform for community publishing.
