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Events • April 9, 2020 

# The Economics of Lockdowns 

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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This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). 

##### Featuring 

##### Emil Verner 

Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

[![Media Name: jcochrane.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/authors/crops/jcochrane.jpg?itok=ATXREJO3)](/people/john-cochrane) 

##### [John H. Cochrane](/people/john-cochrane)

Rose-Marie and Jack Anderson Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution

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](https://twitter.com/JohnHCochrane) 

##### Anna Scherbina 

[![Ryan Bourne](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Ryan%20Bourne.jpg?itok=nv8-2r7d)](/people/ryan-bourne) 

##### [Ryan Bourne](/people/ryan-bourne)

R. Evan Scharf Chair for the Public Understanding of Economics, Cato Institute

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](mailto:rbourne@cato.org)