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Noah may have a read on the general tenor of the conversation, but I personally do not think that the main action is along a tradeoff between “safe more lives vs produce more output” axis. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-04-02/coronavirus-why-epidemiologists-and-economists-keep-arguing
My take is that we have two policies for saving lives
- one that costs us hundreds of billion per month that is familiar
- one that will cost orders of magnitude less but requires trying a new approach
- one that costs us hundreds of billion per month that is familiar
- one that will cost orders of magnitude less but requires trying a new approach
I support saving lives.
I do not support doing it in a way that is so enormously expensive when there is an alternative, entirely feasible, far less expensive way to save the same number of lives.
I do not support doing it in a way that is so enormously expensive when there is an alternative, entirely feasible, far less expensive way to save the same number of lives.
We have to have stick with the expensive way that is costing hundreds of billions of dollars each month for a while longer as we make the investments necessary to deploy the cheaper way.
The cost of the investment will be far less than even one month’s lost output.
The cost of the investment will be far less than even one month’s lost output.
I recognize that in the midst of a crisis, it is hard to have the mental discipline to look forward a month or two and make a plan.
But given how high the stakes are, this is what we should expect of our experts.
But given how high the stakes are, this is what we should expect of our experts.
So here is the question for the epidemiologists and public health officials:
If you had $100 billion to spend right now, can you suggest a way to save the same number of lives that does not involve recurring flareups and lockdowns:
If you had $100 billion to spend right now, can you suggest a way to save the same number of lives that does not involve recurring flareups and lockdowns:
