Don Boudreau of George Mason University blogs at Cafe Hayek. This is his 15th appearance on econ talk. He was last here in January of 2021, talking about the work of James Buchanan. Don argues that we've overreacted and overreacted badly to SARS-CoV-2. We'd love to hear from you. Go to econtalk.org where you could subscribe, comment on this episode,. Find links on the information related to today's conversation.
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.