COVID - The Focus Protection Point

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Coase: shutting everyone in their homes or doing whatever was the range of lockdowns had a positive impact on COVID cases. But that fact is not sufficient to then conclude that therefore these measures were justified, he says. "What did we give up? What did we lose?" Coase asks. 'Even if God comes down and does a cost benefit'

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.