INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1: What Does It Mean to Be Economically "Worse Off" during a Pandemic?

An introduction to economic welfare

CHAPTER 2: Should I Be Free to Risk Infecting Your Grandma with a Deadly Virus?

An introduction to externalities

CHAPTER 3: Did We Close Down the Economy?

An introduction to public and private action

CHAPTER 4: How Much Would You Spend to Save My Life?

An introduction to the value of a statistical life

CHAPTER 5: When Is a Lockdown Cure Worse than the Disease?

An introduction to cost-benefit analysis

CHAPTER 6 Why Was I Banned from Going Fishing?

An introduction to thinking on the margin

CHAPTER 7: What Good Is a Pandemic Plan with So Many Unknowns?

An introduction to uncertainty and the knowledge problem

CHAPTER 8: Why Did Protests and Marches Not Lead to Obvious Spikes in COVID-19 Cases?

An introduction to endogeneity

CHAPTER 9: Why Couldn't I Get a COVID-19 Test Back in February and March 2020?

An introduction to regulatory trade-offs

CHAPTER 10: Why Was There No Hand Sanitizer in My Pharmacy for Months?

An introduction to the price mechanism

CHAPTER 11: Does the Pandemic Show That We Need More U.S.-Based Manufacturing?

An introduction to trade and specialization

CHAPTER 12: Why Is That Guy in the Mask Getting So Close?

An introduction to moral hazard

CHAPTER 13: Why Did Airlines Get a Special Bailout, But Not My Industry?

An introduction to public choice economics

CHAPTER 14: Why Didn't My Workers Want to Be Rehired?

An introduction to incentives

CHAPTER 15: Why Weren't We Well Prepared for the Pandemic?

An introduction to political incentives

CHAPTER 16: Can We Really Just Turn an Economy off and Back on Again?

An introduction to the nature of an economy

CONCLUSION: What is Economics Good For?

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

NOTES

INDEX

ABOUT THE AUTHOR