In a recent working paper, Herby et al. conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of lockdowns on COVID-19 mortality. Based on their results, they conclude that "lockdowns have had little to no public health effects" and that "lockdowns should be rejected out of hand as a...

We propose a flexible model of infectious dynamics with a single endogenous state variable and economic choices. We characterize equilibrium, optimal outcomes, static and dynamic externalities, and prove the following: (i) A lockdown generically is followed by policies to stimulate activity....

Voluntary and government-mandated lockdowns in response to COVID-19 have caused causing drastic reductions in economic activity around the world. We present a parsimonious two-country-SIR model with some degree of substitutability between home and foreign goods, and show that trading partners'...