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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Lockdowns vs. Focused Protection: The Debate Between Lipstich and Bhattacharya

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On November 6, 2020, the Journal of the American Medical Association sponsored an important debate between Stanford’s Jay Bhattacharya and Harvard’s Marc Lisitch over the policy response to the pandemic. They have very different points of view, with Jay favoring “focussed protection” and traditional public health measures, while Marc is on the side of the novel “non-pharmaceutical intervention” side, e.g. lockdowns.

Lockdowns vs. Focused Protection: The Debate Between Lipstich and Bhattacharya Read Journal Article

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The Moral Panic Over Absinthe Lasted 100 Years

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The war on absinthe – this won’t surprise you – created the opposite of its intended effect. It raised the status of the drink and created a completely unwarranted hysteria in both directions: overconsumption followed by bans followed by speakeasy indulgence. Can you think of anything else, perhaps, that has fit that general model? Marijuana perhaps? Liquor in general? Tobacco? Politically incorrect speech? 

The Moral Panic Over Absinthe Lasted 100 Years Read Journal Article

Are We Overreacting to Omicron?

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With natural exposure immunity and early outpatient treatment and when combined with no reports of increased lethality, the WHO’s reaction of generating panic toward “Omicron” is causing needless fear and panic. So too with the Biden administration’s newly imposed travel restrictions, which will achieve nothing and will once again disrupt trade and violate human rights. 

Are We Overreacting to Omicron? Read Journal Article

Covid Restrictions and Mandates Imposed by “the Whims of Public Health Bureaucrats” are Illegal, Missouri Court Rules

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“A health agency director with the authority to shut down a school or assembly wields incredible power to coerce his subjects into submission… This incredible power cannot lawfully be placed in the hands of one bureaucrat.”

Covid Restrictions and Mandates Imposed by “the Whims of Public Health Bureaucrats” are Illegal, Missouri Court Rules Read Journal Article

CDC Director Walensky Praised China’s “Really Strict Lockdowns”

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The station permitted Walensky to respond to Kulldorff but did not allow Kulldorff to respond back. The tone was obviously hostile toward the Great Barrington Declaration which pushed a program of focused protection over lockdown. 

CDC Director Walensky Praised China’s “Really Strict Lockdowns” Read Journal Article

Misinformation and the Ministry of Truth: Testimony to U.S. House of Representatives Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis

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The ultimate ironic effect of the fact-checking enterprise – the Ministry of Truth — has been the promotion of misinformation. By boosting the demand for lockdown and COVID-restrictions, these errors have proven disastrous.

Misinformation and the Ministry of Truth: Testimony to U.S. House of Representatives Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis Read Journal Article

The Pfizer/BioNTech Vaccine Monopoly: The Backstory

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For all the talk of the power of Big Pharma, the Covid-19 vaccine that is currently becoming the standard throughout the Western world has a far more powerful state sponsor and the state sponsor is Germany. This raises particularly obvious and thorny issues for the European Union, where the vaccine contracts for all 27 member states were negotiated by a European Commission that is headed by former German Minister of Defense Ursula von der Leyen. 

The Pfizer/BioNTech Vaccine Monopoly: The Backstory Read Journal Article

The Economic and Health Effects of Mass Covid-19 Vaccination

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From these results it seems that mass vaccination is some sort of get-out-of-jail card, as a way to get out of ruinously expensive lockdowns and allow some rebound in economic activity. Yet it was politicians and health bureaucrats who put us in jail in the first place. At any time they could undo what they imposed, with or without mass vaccination.

The Economic and Health Effects of Mass Covid-19 Vaccination Read Journal Article