The paper reviews economic developments and policy measures in the Nordic countries during the pandemic focusing in particular on the unconventional policies deployed to protect incomes, jobs, and firms in the short run. The recession was the deepest but also shortest on record, which indicates that the underlying economic policy logic of preserving production capacity and job matches to make a swift recovery possible worked. The policies also maintained domestic demand. The general structure of the Nordic societies, with a high level of trust and cooperation, a high degree of digitalization, and a comprehensive social safety net, contributed to the recovery process.