Live Online Policy Forum 

# The Economics of Lockdowns 

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Date and Time 

April 9, 2020 12 - 1:15 PM EDT 

Location 

Live Online 

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##### Featuring 

Featuring **John Cochrane**, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Adjunct Scholar at the Cato Institute, and blogger at [The Grumpy Economist](https://johnhcochrane.blogspot.com/); **Anna Scherbina**, Associate professor of finance, Brandeis University; visiting scholar, American Enterprise Institute; and author, “[Determining the Optimal Duration of the COVID-19 Suppression Policy: A Cost-Benefit Analysis](https://www.aei.org/research-products/working-paper/determining-the-optimal-duration-of-the-covid-19-suppression-policy-a-cost-benefit-analysis/)”; **Emil Verner**, Assistant professor of finance, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and author, “[Pandemics Depress the Economy, Public Health Interventions Do Not: Evidence from the 1918 Flu](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3561560)”; moderated by **Ryan Bourne**, R. Evan Scharf Chair for the Public Understanding of Economics, Cato Institute.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had dire effects on both public health and the economy. In reaction to the virus’s spread, many states have implemented stay-at-home orders and closures of all “nonessential businesses.” And national lockdowns have been mandated all over Europe.

These lockdowns raise all sorts of important economic questions:

- How much of the coming downturn will be driven by government shutdowns as opposed to the changing consumer and producer behavior we’d expect because of the virus?
- What will be the net consequences of lockdowns for economic welfare?
- What factors determine the optimal length and scope of these more suppressive measures?
- Are there alternatives to lockdowns that could achieve equivalent or higher benefits at lower total cost?

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