Arguments around whether to implement harsh lock-down measures to curb the coronavirus’ spread typically centre around the trade-off between protecting human life and the economy.
New research from MIT suggests that there is no “trade-off” and that stronger lock-down responses typically generate stronger economies:
The study, “Pandemics Depress the Economy, Public Health Interventions Do Not: Evidence from the 1918 Flu,” was posted to the Social Science Research Network as a working paper on March 26. In addition to Verner, the co-authors are Sergio Correia, an economist with the U.S. Federal Reserve, and Stephen Luck, an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York…
