But cutting rates is not an effective antidote for the coronavirus. Lower interest rates increase economic growth by driving up demand, while the disruptions caused by the spread of the virus are reducing the supply of goods. Cutting rates won’t address that “supply shock.” It won’t hasten the return of Chinese workers to factories, or speed ships across the Pacific.

Similarly, cutting rates won’t inoculate the domestic economy against the disruptions caused by U.S. workers staying home because they’re sick, or because they don’t want to get sick.

A relevant example: China closed thousands of domestic movie theaters to limit the spread of the virus. The theaters cannot increase ticket sales by cutting prices, nor can the government increase sales by cutting interest rates to put more money into the pockets of workers. There will be no ticket sales until the movie theaters reopen — resulting in revenue losses not just for Chinese theaters but for the American studios whose movies are not playing in those theaters.

The most famous example of a big supply shock in modern times is the oil crisis of 1973, when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries stopped exporting oil to the United States and other allies of Israel. The Fed responded at the time by cutting interest rates, a mistake that contributed to the rise of inflation in the 1970s but did not help to revive economic growth. There is little reason to fear an uptick in inflation at present — but there is also little reason to think a rate cut would be more successful in reviving economic growth.

Fed officials have taken to the airwaves in recent days to explain the limits of their powers. At the same time, they have said a rate cut could become appropriate if and when the coronavirus weighs on demand. That’s a problem monetary policy actually could help to address, but it wouldn’t be a miracle cure: People afraid of infection may not be lured to visit dealerships by the promise of a slightly lower rate on a late-model pickup truck. This kind of help from the Fed also is slow-acting medicine. It takes months for the effect of a change in the Fed’s benchmark rate to spread throughout the economy. By then, the coronavirus crisis could be in the rearview mirror.