It will be a week full of news for Amazon,

It is often said that the terrible coronavirus pandemic in progress, in addition to not knowing geographical boundaries, does not distinguish between rich and poor. This last statement has, of course, a foundation and is, at least in part, a consequence of the fragility of the geographical boundaries compared to the explosive force of the contagion. But the relationship between Covid-19 and inequalities does not end in the recognition that the economic and social status does not perfectly discriminate between the submerged and the saved. The other relevant aspects are numerous; I will consider four.

The first is the influence that the initial economic conditions have on the exposure to the risk of becoming victims of the virus; the most favorable economic conditions do not eliminate that risk, but the most unfavorable ones can, in various ways, make it very high. The same can be said for the economic consequences of the pandemic, which we can distinguish between the direct ones and those induced by the containment measures of the contagion.

The second is the possibility that initial inequalities act, through various channels, as a multiplier of the devastating effects of the pandemic on health and the economy.

The third is the possibility that, as it unfolds, the pandemic will suddenly drag even those previously occupying economic positions of relative privilege into poverty and deprivation, altering the landscape of poverty and posing new questions to social protection systems.

The fourth is what we might call the pandemic's lasting legacy to inequality. Over a longer time horizon, how will the inequality of this tremendous experience be affected? Can we imagine that the pandemic will favor the emergence of a less economically unequal and more just society or should we fear the opposite?

In these notes I will try to outline an answer to these questions, the relevance of which for putting a hand to a better design of our economic institutions, in the immediate and in the longer term, is self-evident. It will inevitably be a question of partial answers, also due to the still insufficient availability of elements of knowledge. The hope is that they are not misleading.