From the beginning of 2020 onwards, the coronavirus pandemic has been shaping economic developments around the world. However, as the Bundesbank writes in its Monthly Report, some economies have pulled through the crisis better than others. It notes that, whilst in a number of countries economic output has already returned to – or even exceeded – its pre-crisis level, in others it is still lagging behind. Extensive evaluations show that differences in the pattern of the pandemic and the measures taken to combat it, sectoral particularities and the scope of economic policy assistance can explain why individual economies have been affected differently.