Economics Explained host Gene Tunny speaks with Professor Benno Torgler of QUT about a new paper he has co-authored: Certified Corona-Immunity as a Resource and Strategy to Cope with Pandemic Costs.

Professor Benno Torgler is Professor of Economics in the School of Economics and Finance and Centre for Behavioural Economics, Society and Technology (BEST), QUT. He was also Adjunct Professor at the EBS Universität für Wirtschaft und Recht, Germany (2012-2015) and an ARC Future Fellow (2011-2015).

Timestamps

Use these (approximate) timestamps to jump right to the highlights:

• 1:20 – abstract/overview of Benno’s paper – immune people must be identified and re-integrated into normal activities as soon as possible
• 5:15 – reference to Gene’s interview with CCIQ Chief Economist Marcus Smith on the economic impacts of coronavirus
• 5:40 – concept of Immunity Certificates
• 8:50 – what does Benno mean by actively producing the resource of corona-immunity?
• 11:55 – importance of widespread testing and the need to discuss trade-offs (e.g. public health and economy), prompting discussion of final sentence of abstract, “There is a risk that the impacts of the secondary crisis could outweigh that of the biological event from a health and societal perspective.”
• 13:40 – discussion of Frank Snowden’s book Epidemics and Society: From the Black Death to the Present
• 16:40 – reference to post-September 11 study which showed driving deaths increased following terrorist attack which led to less air travel by Gerd Gigerenzer, Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire: Behavioral Reactions to Terrorist Attacks
• 21:00 – reference to Paul Frijters’ articles on the virus - e.g. The Corona Dilemma
• 23:45 – Benno mentions Rizio and Skali paper on How often do dictators have positive economic effects?