Retrospective insurance to underwrite the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic

Alistair Milne, in a recent article in The Conversation, recommends an insurance based allocation of relief to protect businesses, non-profits and the self-employed from the impact of the current pandemic. He has a supporting technical analysis on SSRN, which examines the magnitude of the economic shock estimating that is worth about 10% of GDP;  and argues that his proposal for retrospective insurance need not cost that much, protecting all businesses from bankruptcy in the face of an economic shock of 10% of GDP at an additional cost over measures already taken of only 2% of GDP.