Policy

Policy articles analyzing social and public policy including impacts on economics, open dialog, and social life. Articles on the topic of policy at Brownstone Institute are translated into multiple languages.

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Blinded by a Blizzard of Numbers: A Review of Spiegelhalter and Masters

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There is much to dislike in Spiegelhalter and Masters’ book on the plague year, but considering the partisan and authoritarian nonsense, garbage advice, and terrible statistical blunders we’ve grown used to, the book comes across as fairly balanced. They have some clear blind spots (vaccines, effectiveness of lockdowns, Vitamin D) but there are much worse things to read than Covid by Numbers. 

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Straight Talk about the Precautionary Principle

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Whenever applied, the precautionary principle needs to be challenged and stand scrutiny, to help us make decisions when there is uncertainty, and the situation is in flux as is typical in a pandemic.  These alternatives emphasize seeking new facts, being rigorously honest about the evidence, being open to being wrong, adjusting our actions as we come to understand more, and communicating with trust, not fear. 

Straight Talk about the Precautionary Principle Read Journal Article

Why Were They So Obtuse about the Terrible Harms They Would Inflict?

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It’s essential we debrief on the harm we caused – the epidemiological harm we simply displaced and converted to economic harm that, at the end of the chain, has caused equally real people to suffer and die at higher rates than they would’ve had we acted differently. It’s irresponsible and unscientific to suppress discussions on the inconvenient truth that our response to the pandemic likely indirectly killed people.

Why Were They So Obtuse about the Terrible Harms They Would Inflict? Read Journal Article

The Paucity of Evidence for Mandated Covid-19 Vaccine Boosters

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Given these overall randomized trial findings regarding covid-19 vaccine boosters—absence of even a short- term reduction in mild covid-19 infections in those with natural immunity, and no data establishing that boosters prevent covid-19 hospitalizations, deaths, or SARS-CoV-2 transmission—there is no rational, evidence-based justification for covid-19 vaccine “booster mandates.” 

The Paucity of Evidence for Mandated Covid-19 Vaccine Boosters Read Journal Article

Biden’s Throat Frog Hints at the Coming Normalcy

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The response to Biden’s infection should give us all hope that we can get back to normal, stop stigmatizing the sick, stop calling people who recover from Covid “survivors,” stop avoiding each other as if the human person is nothing but a vector of disease spread, and stop with this incredible cruel demand that every person separate from everyone else in the name of controlling a virus.

Biden’s Throat Frog Hints at the Coming Normalcy Read Journal Article

First Comply, Then We’ll Grant You Some Rights

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The political establishment is so devoted to this cause that it is hard to see how we can extricate ourselves. Accepting the first lockdown was the decisive point. We sacrificed our rights due to fear, and nearly two years later, we still don’t have them back. It was as obvious then as it is now: power is never seized and then voluntarily returned. 

First Comply, Then We’ll Grant You Some Rights Read Journal Article

What Does Focused Protection Mean for Nursing Homes?

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The control of COVID-19 spread, even to vulnerable people, is undoubtedly good – but it is not the only good. Some things in life – and death – are more important than COVID-19, and our public health authorities would do well to remember that fact.

What Does Focused Protection Mean for Nursing Homes? Read Journal Article

Is YouTube Now Presuming to be in Charge of Science?

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If these rules are strenuously enforced, millions of videos, interviews, television shows, lectures, press conferences, and scientific presentations will disappear. Maybe tens of millions actually. And all in the name of protecting “science” against its corruption, as if YouTube should be the determinant of what constitutes good science. 

Is YouTube Now Presuming to be in Charge of Science? Read Journal Article

The Life and Thoughts of An Unvaccinated Student in Germany

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My life will be much easier getting the jab in Germany but my heart keeps saying that I should not take it from my ethical and moral standpoint. Perhaps, I will have no choice left in the near future if the governments introduce the general vaccine mandate for COVID. However, I think the western governments should donate these vaccines and support more to the poorer nations instead of vaccinating the children and mandating the vaccines for those who dot not need them. 

The Life and Thoughts of An Unvaccinated Student in Germany Read Journal Article

More Than 400 Studies on the Failure of Compulsory Covid Interventions (Lockdowns, Restrictions, Closures)

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What follows is the current totality of the body of evidence (available comparative studies and high-level pieces of evidence, reporting, and discussion) on COVID-19 lockdowns, masks, school closures, and mask mandates. There is no conclusive evidence supporting claims that any of these restrictive measures worked to reduce viral transmission or deaths. Lockdowns were ineffective, school closures were ineffective, mask mandates were ineffective, and masks themselves were and are ineffective and harmful. 

More Than 400 Studies on the Failure of Compulsory Covid Interventions (Lockdowns, Restrictions, Closures) Read Journal Article

jacobson test

Covid-19 Vaccine Mandates Fail the Jacobson Test

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A careful reading of Jacobson shows that it is not just an automatic consideration allowing the government to do what it wants when a pandemic emergency has been officially declared. Covid-19 vaccine mandates do not satisfy any of the required criteria in Jacobson, let alone all of them.

Covid-19 Vaccine Mandates Fail the Jacobson Test Read Journal Article

I Fought for My Kids and the Liberties of Everyone: An Interview with Shannon Robinson, Plaintiff in the Anti-Lockdown Missouri Court Cases

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Shannon Robinson is a lead Plantiff who challenged the state of Missouri over what she sees as illegal and unconstitutional covid-19 policies mandated by the Department of Health and Senior Services. In this interview, she talks about her motivations and the process, and the widespread sufferings experienced by her and millions of others.

I Fought for My Kids and the Liberties of Everyone: An Interview with Shannon Robinson, Plaintiff in the Anti-Lockdown Missouri Court Cases Read Journal Article