Coronavirus shutdowns around the world have pushed countries into crisis-mode, prompting a massive rescue spending in an effort to soften the blow from what is expected to be the worst economic contraction since the 1930s.

As of 7 April, countries around the world had approved more than $4.5tn worth of emergency measures, according to the IMF. That figure has only grown in the weeks since. So how do the responses compare?

Columbia economics professor Ceyhun Elgin has been working with colleagues around the world to track the responses in 166 countries. By his calculations, Japan’s response has been among the most aggressive, with a spending package estimated at roughly 20% of the country’s economy. (It is topped only by Malta, which benefits from European Union funds.) That compares to rescue spending estimated at roughly 14% of GDP in the US, 11% in Australia, 8.4% in Canada, 5% in the UK, 1.5% in Colombia and 0.6% in Gambia.(BBC)…[+]