Nationally-imposed lockdowns in light of the coronavirus have resulted in a close-to-complete standstill of trade. Economists worry about the knock-on effects in years to come, on global unemployment, markets and currency values. The crisis perhaps proves the unsustainability of national GDP as a measure of success and growth. But local...

One sunny afternoon in a cosy flat in Frankfurt, we sat together, thinking about how to start writing this article and how we met. A NGO worker in the UK had put us in touch, and some weeks later we had arranged to meet for a research interview for the...