COVID Does Kill Children

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More people have died from COVID down in the United States than World War I, World War II, the Civil War combined. And yet it was invoked often by people, often sometimes economists. We struggle to take that logic that we see as normal, especially as economists, and bring it to bear on the issue right now.

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.