Tweet [1]
Texas Tech economist, and GMU Econ alum, Ben Powell makes a case against Covid-19 lockdowns [2]. A slice:
Instead of following Europe into a second round of lockdowns, the United States should follow the advice of the top scientists and medical experts who have signed the Great Barrington Declaration [3]. They advise avoiding lockdowns and focusing instead on protecting the most vulnerable, letting the disease spread among the young and healthy to build population immunity.
Jonas Herby explains cross-country differences in Covid death counts [4]. A slice:
The high death toll has been attributed to the soft lockdown, but Sweden had [5] a remarkably mild flu season in 2018/19 and 2019/20. Many vulnerable souls who normally would have died of the flu survived to April 2020 and, then, sadly died from Covid-19 instead. This buildup of a stock of vulnerable persons has been called “dry tinder.” The “tinder” metaphor is that more forest fires this year can be explained by fewer fires in previous years. Dry tinder accumulated, awaiting a spark.
A recent article [6] suggests that dry tinder in Sweden is an important factor in explaining the country’s large number of Covid-19 deaths. Sweden was an exceptional case, both compared to other Nordic countries and in a historical perspective. Dry tinder is important for our understanding of the differences in Covid-19 deaths tolls between countries.
Mark Perry mourns the death of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks [8]. And he shares this wonderful quotation from a 2017 speech given by Rabbi Sacks: “The market is about the creation and distribution of wealth. The state is about the creation and distribution of power.”
Alex Nowrasteh thanks Donald Trump for revealing nativism’s true, hideous face [9]. Here’s Alex’s conclusion:
President Trump killed respectable, polite, and well‐mannered nativism and replaced it with rude, crude, and poorly‐mannered nativism. If I were a polite and well‐mannered immigration restrictionist, and there are many, then I would be furious. As somebody working to liberalize American immigration policy, President Trump deserves my thanks for creating that legacy. Thank you, Mr. President.
I am honored to have been a recent guest on Bretigne Shaffer’s podcast [10]. The discussion was mostly about Covid and the deranged response to it.
Eric Boehm calls White House trade advisor Peter Navarro a loser [11]. Good call.