Episode 184: “A Final Report Card on the States’ Response to COVID-19” with Phil Kerpen

We’re more than two years into the Covid-19 pandemic. So by now, we should know enough to assess what we’ve learned about the measures our governments took to mitigate the virus?  What worked? What didn’t? Fortunately, we now have a comprehensive comparative study, published as a working paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research, authored by University of Chicago economist Casey Mulligan - and Steve Moore and Phil Kerpen of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity.  They compared Covid outcomes in the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on three variables: the economy, education and mortality.  Their conclusion? “The correlation between health and economy scores is essentially zero,” say the authors, “which suggests that the severe lockdown states that withdrew the most from economic activity did not significantly improve health by doing so.” The bottom 10 are dominated by the states and D.C. that had the most stringent lockdowns and were among the last to reopen schools We can’t let this conclusion go.  We must absorb now what we’ve learned from what worked - and what didn’t work.  We can’t mindlessly respond to the next pandemic - and we know there will be a next one - with failed policies. To dig into this, Phil Kerpen, President on American Commitment, an author of the Study, and a deep subject matter expert on Covid policies, joins me for a thorough look at how to avoid repeating the policy blunders of the past two+ years.