Economist Jason abeluck conducted a study in rural Bangladesh. He randomized hundreds of villages to three different strategies, no masking, cloth masking, or a sur a masks. In the villages that he gave a mask out, about ten % more people signed up to participate than the villages where he didn't give a mask out. That's a statistically significant ten per cent im balance. And i think the answer is that when they went to randomize people, the villagers knew that they were going to get a free bee.
When it comes to the COVID-19 vaccination, is the risk of myocarditis greater than the benefit to a healthy male teen? Is natural immunity really better than vaccination--and were we right to mask the kids? Dr. Vinay Prasad of the University of California San Francisco talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about what we learned and didn't learn from COVID so far and how we should handle a pandemic going forward.