Commentary
Last week, University of Chicago economist Casey Mulligan, COVID expert Phil Kerpen, and I released a study in the National Bureau of Economic Research that graded the states on their COVID performance. The study’s findings have spread throughout the country at warp speed. The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, New York Post, Daily Mail, and even media in Europe and Japan have picked up the findings.
We examine three metrics: health of the citizens and death rate from COVID, the economic performance of the state, and days of school lost to children.
The conclusion was that those states that locked down their economies and schools for the longest periods of time ranked worst, because lockdown mandates were only marginally effective at reducing deaths, but they did severe damage to children. States such as Utah, Montana, and Florida had minimal lockdowns so their economies remained vibrant with persistently low unemployment. The schools remained mostly open in these states.
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