Category Archives: health care

“Kung Flu” in (Recent) Historical Perspective

On the 38th anniversary of Vincent Chin’s murder. From Politico:

President Donald Trump’s top spokesperson on Monday defended his use of the term “kung flu” to describe the novel coronavirus has sickened millions across the globe, asserting that the president was merely trying to emphasize the virus’ place of origin in China.

“The president does not believe that it is offensive to note that this virus came from China,” McEnany said Monday when asked about Conway’s condemnation of the term.

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The Hill: “Surging coronavirus cases raise fears of new lockdowns”

From The Hill:

Sharp increases in the number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in states across the nation have some local elected officials considering pauses in reopening their economies.

The rising number of cases are hitting hardest in Sun Belt states like Arizona, California, Florida and Texas. All four of those states reported their highest single-day increase in the number of confirmed cases over the weekend.

Officials have also pointed to a troubling trend in the number of people who must be hospitalized for treatment, raising anew the frightening prospect of an overwhelmed health system. …

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Ma, Rogers, Zhou: “Global Economic and Financial Effects of 21st Century Pandemics and Epidemics”

Addendum, A new paper by Chang Ma, John H. Rogers and Sili Zhou:

We provide perspective on the possible global economic and financial effects from COVID-19 by examining the handful of similar major health crises in the 21st century. We estimate the effects of these disease shock episodes on GDP growth, fiscal policy, expectations, financial markets, and corporate activity. Simple time-series models of GDP growth indicate that real GDP is 2.57 % lower on average across 210 countries in the year of the official declaration of the outbreak and is still 2.96 % below its pre-shock level five years later. The negative effect on GDP is felt less in countries with more aggressive first-year responses in government spending. Consensus forecast data suggests a pessimistic view on real GDP initially that lasts for two months, an effect that is larger for emerging market economies. Stock market responses indicate an immediate negative reaction. Finally, using firm-level data, we find a fall in corporate profitability and employment, and an increase in debt, the last of which is further reflected in higher sovereign CDS spreads.

Addendum, 4/1:

Impact on GDP growth expectations are illustrated in Figure 3:

One interesting (among many) policy relevant findings:

In countries with large responses of government expenditures, real GDP initially falls by 2.68% but the effect dies out in the second year. For the low government expenditure response countries, real GDP initially falls by 2.84%, an effect that is very persistent. Meanwhile, responses in government tax revenues do not make much of a difference.

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson Looks on the Bright Side

And argues against excessive debt accumulation.

From a USA Today op-ed:

Every premature death is a tragedy, but death is an unavoidable part of life. More than 2.8 million die each year — nearly 7,700 a day. The 2017-18 flu season was exceptionally bad, with 61,000 deaths attributed to it. Can you imagine the panic if those mortality statistics were attributed to a new virus and reported nonstop?

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