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The Black Death was also an economic crisis as trade ceased because of fear of the spread of plague. As trade stagnated, businesses failed, and unemployment rose. The plague caused a complete social breakdown in many areas. Boccaccio in the Decameron, describes people abandoning their occupations, ignoring the sick and living lives of wild excess, as everyone expected to die.
<blockquote>‘Thus"Thus, doing exactly as they prescribed, they spent day and night moving from one tavern to the next, drinking without mode or measure, or doing the same thing in other people's homes, engaging only in those activities that gave them pleasure….. And they combined this bestial behavior with as complete an avoidance of the sick as they could manage.'"</blockquote><ref> Boccaccio, Giovanni. ''[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140449302/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0140449302&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=199bd9b0ec199319d106dc174065bb99 The Decameron].'' (Penguin Classics, Hammondsworth, 1987) trans Mark Musa, p. 6</ref>
====Socio-Economic Consequences====
