What economic policy with respect to companies during and after the COVID crisis?

We illustrate this analysis, which is general, with the case of France. We believe that the right policy with respect to companies during and after the COVID crisis has the following components: There is currently high uncertainty over which economic sectors will be permanently affected by the crisis and for which sectors the situation will return to normal after the crisis. Faced with this uncertainty, it makes sense to support all companies and prevent bankruptcies; Once it is clear which economic sectors will be permanently weakened due to less demand, it will be necessary to both consolidate these sectors around a few leading firms and retrain wage earners from these sectors who have lost their jobs; Many companies will have damaged balance sheets after the crisis (fall in earnings and in equity, increase in debt). To avoid the proliferation of zombies, debt will have to be either converted into equity (intermediate-sized and large enterprises) or restructured (converted into long-term debt). In both cases, continued government guarantees would reduce financing costs .