Depending on pre-existing conditions, a successful lockdown may becheaper than any alternative

A link sent to me by another economist. Read this right to the bottom (or skip there if you are attention-span challenged) for the surprising denouement:
http://www.moneyguideireland.com/cos...n-ireland.html
Not all caveats an academic or corporate economist would add are explicitly described, but that makes for brevity (Jay will be pleased); they are nonetheless subsumed into the argument and calculations. A major caveat for the whole concept is of course that the lockdown must work, and not cause undue economic devastation, both of which are the case in Ireland, much to the Government's credit. Something that Americans won't instinctively take into consideration, which over here won't even be mentioned, is that Ireland has a mixed economy: it's not quite a welfare state but it's not quite a laissez faire state either; it's better described as an unspoken partnership between the people and capital, as in the German model (ironically set up for them by British trades union officials after the second world war) but with the superstructure of German rules substituted with understandings that on the whole work more smoothly. The upshot of this caveat is that the Irish government could step in quickly and efficiently with financial aid through existing mechanisms, which has not been the case everywhere.

Andre Jute
It's rare for me to approve of the government, any government, but the Irish government has risen to the occasion.