Was the lockdown worth it? Economist Gigi Foster and infectious diseases expert Bill Bowtell have their say — how do we protect ourselves from a virus that is ravaging other countries, while working to overcome what could be the worst economic downturn since the great depression? READ ON HERE
We are killing more people because of lockdown than we are saving While it’s tempting, and even invigorating, to experience a shiver of schadenfreude at the resurgence of COVID-19 in Victoria on the watch of Australia’s most punitive premier, you should let the sensation pass quickly. The fact is theCOVID-19 is a feature of our lives now and we need to learn to live with it. Even if a vaccine is found, it is unlikely that it will be 100% effective, so, like the flu, it will be an ongoing risk in what is intrinsically a risky business – living. Read on
Reopen the economy to economic health with only voluntary social distancing
THE ECONOMIST – RADIO NATIONAL Presented by Peter Martin is economy editor at The Conversation and a visiting fellow at the Crawford at the ANU. A former economics editor of The Age, he has reported economics since 1985.
Gigi Foster is one of Australia’s leading economics communicators and a Professor at the UNSW School of Economics. She was named 2019 Young Economist of the Year by the Economic Society of Austral
The corona cost-benefit analyses of Richard Holden, Bruce Preston and Neil Bailey: ooops! The economic and social damage of lock downs in Australia is starting to get noticed so much that even academic economists are paying attention. After months of resisting actual data, some Australian economists who previously refused to even contemplate the idea that an economic collapse would also cost lives are finally trying their hands at data and have produced cost-benefit analyses for the corona crisis. Unfortunately, it is clearly novel territory for them and they have made basic, yet grave mistakes. Let me dissect their writings. CLICK LINK TO READ FULL STORY
The Australian Government has at least released the modelling that is guiding its COVID 19/Wuhan Virus response, which has caused the economy to collapse. As before, the modelling makes no mention about the benefits to the whole of the population in the long term. The Government seems to have ignored its own cost guidelines, set out on the Department Of Prime Minister And Cabinet website, which effectively value an Australian life, on average, at $4.2 Million. It does now seem as if the Government has allowed itself to spend as much it wants, without any regard to the number of lives that might actually be saved.
Run the Numbers, Survey the Folly – As of May 22, Australia had suffered 7,088 cases of COVID-19 and 102 people who died with the virus, the majority were males between 70 and 89. A sizeable proportion of those admitted to hospitals’ intensive care unitss were suffering from comorbidity issues such as cardiac disease and diabetes. Australia’s Chief Medical Officer (CMO) has told a Senate Inquiry that the Australian government’s actions in locking down the economy saved 14,000 lives. In the meantime, Camilla Stoltenberg, director of Norway’s public health agency, has confessed: Our assessment now, and I find that there is a broad consensus in relation to the reopening, was that one could probably achieve the same effect – and avoid part of the unfortunate repercussions – by not closing. But, instead, staying open with precautions to stop the spread. The cost to the Australian economy of the global pandemic could be as high as one thousand billion dollars with an additional direct cost to the taxpayer of $260 billion this year alone. It will be a while before our Prime Minister and the premiers admit the lockdown was entirely unnecessary and unjustified. READ FULL STORY
Correctly counting the cost shows Australia’s lockdown was a mistake
The future will now be worse because the flawed pandemic health projections didn’t correctly calculate their effects on economic welfare.Gigi FosterContributorMay 25, 2020 – 2.44pmSaveShare. Australia’s economic policies in response to the coronavirus threat have been driven in the main by projections of death and infection rates, produced by epidemiological modelling, that since have been proven to be orders of magnitude above what any country anywhere in the world, regardless of policy, has experienced. READ MORE
Gigi Foster Professor, School of Economics UNSW has some unpopular views on COVID-19, seen recently on Q&A. We drill down on her opinion and to understand her views on the lockdown. LISTEN HERE TO PROFF GIGI FOSTER INTERVIEW