Throughout the pandemic, our politicians have been urged to “follow the science” or, more accurately, the advice provided by medical scientists. Other disciplines play only a bit part. There are Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) sub-groups assessing the impacts of Covid on the provision of social care, or minority ethnic groups, but what about the economy?
Indeed, it appears that economists are only asked to put a cost on policy decisions that have already been made, or come up with schemes to mitigate the impacts, rather than influence decisions in the first place. In my admittedly biased view, this is a mistake.
Any decent economist has a toolbox of concepts and skills that can be applied to the policy responses to a pandemic. This begins with communicating the case for state intervention.
For example, protection from a deadly virus is a classic example of what economists call a “public…
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Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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