Responses to the Pandemic.

• Author: Carden, Art
• Position: The Great Covid Panic: What Happened, Why, and What To Do Next

The Great Covid Panic: What Happened, Why, and What To Do Next

By Paul Frijters, Gigi Foster, and Michael Baker

408 pp.; Brownstone Institute, 2021

The Great Covid Panic is the first book from the recently founded Brownstone Institute for Social and Economic Research, based in Austin, Texas. The book is an indictment of a world that seems to have gone mad with risk aversion and displays of political authority. As COVID variants continue to pop up and masking protocols are renewed by policymakers, it is a timely contribution.

Three archetypes/ In the book, economists Paul Frijters of the London School of Economics and Gigi Foster of the University of New South Wales team up with economic consultant and freelance journalist Michael Baker to explain the COVID policy response. It's a broadside against what might be called the "COVID Political Complex."

The book tells its story using three character archetypes. The first is Jane, who understandably fears what COVID will do, embraces lockdowns, willingly sacrifices freedom and convenience in the name of civic duty, and wants the government to do something about those who resist lockdowns and mandates. She is the Facebook or Nextdoor busybody who thinks she hears gunshots every time a door closes and who calls the cops on her neighbors because she saw them through the window watching football with friends while unmasked.

The second archetype is James, an opportunist in the board room or capitol building who sees in COVID a golden chance to seize power or riches. He claims to be following "the science" on how to handle the pandemic, not understanding that science can only provide what are thought to be facts about the disease, not value judgments about how to respond to it. Worse, he plays fast and loose with the facts and excuses it by saying his noble lies benefit those who can't handle the truth. James lives by the politician's credo from the British show Yes, Prime Minister. "Something must be done. This is something. Therefore, we must do it." Projecting confidence and being decisive trump other considerations. And, despite his belief that he is coolly analytical, when his intellect tells him one thing and his incentives tell him another, he often follows his incentives.

James also seems to think that his greatness of soul excuses him from the rules he wants others to follow. We see this archetype in the public health officials who admitted they had played armchair psychologist by advising...