The person elected president of the United States this Nov. 3 will have a unique and challenging task—managing the nation’s economic recovery after a global pandemic that could cause unemployment to surge to levels not seen since the Great Depression. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts that U.S. economic output will drop 5.9% this year after 2.3% gross domestic product (GDP) growth last year. The expectation is that once the virus-containment measures are lifted and the virus is defeated, the economy will rebound sharply.

However, uncertainty related to the nature of the virus and the long wait for a vaccine ...