Author archives: Owen Barder

I think the relaxations in the lockdown are premature. Here is why: Hospital admissions in London are going up And in England as a whole, hospital admissions are rising slightly: UPDATE 8pm Here is the same graph with another day’s data – the admissions continue to rise: 2. The number of reported deaths is up, […]

I am worried that the UK Government is easing the lockdown too soon, and I am going to continue to be very careful in the coming weeks. Here’s why. I am not a doctor or an epidemiologist: I’m an economist. That means I don’t know about the biology (but I can read statistics pretty well.) […]

President Trump’s decision to cut funding to the World Health Organisation calls for a “Love Actually” moment. There is a precedent. One of George W. Bush’s first acts as president in 2006 was to reinstate the “global gag rule” which withdrew US aid from organisations that counsel women about abortions or to advocate for liberalized […]