When Joe Biden takes office in January, a main focus will be pulling the country out of a deep recession. He has been there before, running the Obama administration’s recovery plan as vice president. The priorities Mr. Biden touted during the financial crisis 12 years ago, and the lessons his team learned from that downturn, offer clues to how he’ll handle this one.
“Nobody wants to get crucified on a small cross,” Mr. Biden liked to lecture the Obama economic team back then, as Jason Furman, a White House economist at the…
