Economic Lockdowns Are Causing 70x More Life Years Lost Than Covid-19 Otherwise Would

When we interviewed the famous and controversial Princeton ethics philosopher Peter Singer, he brought up an interesting study by economist Paul Frijters that claims the current set of economic lockdowns are causing 70 times more life years lost than Covid-19 otherwise would had we done nothing. It was surprising to hear such a perspective, since there has been almost unanimous consensus amongst the economics community that the lockdowns are the preferred policy prescription – how did Paul Frijters arrive at this calculation? How justified is his view? And what are the moral-ethical implications of the current measures and his alternative proposals? We reached out, and Prof. Frijters kindly agreed to have this brutally honest conversation with us. Prof. Frijters has written a series of controversial blog posts on https://clubtroppo.com.au/, topics ranging from how politicians were forced into “crowd-think” and made the unscientific decision of economic lockdown, to why quickly giving everyone Covid to build up herd immunity would be the wisest policy right now. In this interview, we dive deep into those moral-ethical debates and discuss how sensible policy measures can arise out of scientifically rigorous economic thinking. This is one of the most fascinating interviews that Tiger has conducted, and Prof. Frijters’s diagnosis for the current academic environment and social discourse will surely stimulate you in unexpected ways. Prof. Frijters is currently a Professor in Wellbeing Economics at the LSE. He specializes in applied micro-econometrics, including labor, happiness, and health economics, including measurement and how we all can help the wellbeing of others. He is particularly active with models of cost-effectiveness and how wellbeing can become the driving focus of the nation state bureaucracy.