Every Life Is Precious, but Every Life Is Finite

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Donna Brazile: I think most people would say, well, you know, it's horrible that 60,000 people die of the flu. She says we'd probably shut down school in the winter. "We generally understand we, there's been a slight change...in our culture over the last 20 years"

Economist Don Boudreaux of George Mason University talks about the pandemic with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Boudreaux argues that a perfect storm of factors created a huge overreaction, including unnecessary lockdowns that accomplished little at a very high cost in physical and emotional health. Instead, Boudreaux argues, we should have focused attention on the population most at risk of dying from COVID--the elderly and especially the elderly with co-morbidities. The conversation includes a discussion of externalities and the insights of Ronald Coase applied to the policies during the pandemic.