Michael Greenstone and Vishan Nigam
As the United States and the rest of the world grapple with COVID-19, the most reliable policy response seems to be social distancing, which itself imposes substantial costs on economies and people’s well-being. Indeed, people have begun to question whether the costs of social distancing exceed its benefits and are therefore too great. Here, we estimate the economic benefits of social distancing due to reducing mortality rates. By reducing coronavirus deaths over the next six months, social distancing is projected to increase the well-being of Americans by more than $8 trillion.
