Australia's Pandemic Exceptionalism How we crushed the curve but lost the race.

In many ways, Australia handled the COVID pandemic as well as any country in the world – but what did we get very wrong? Economically, Australia handled the COVID pandemic as well as any country in the world – and dramatically better than most. Was this inevitable? Was it luck? Was it the product of great institutions? Or the product of a few talented individuals? Conversely, Australia’ s public health response was decidedly more mixed. Grave failings meant we escaped the pandemic many months after we should have and were plunged into unnecessary lockdowns. Failings that led to loss of life and economic and human damage. In Australia’ s Pandemic Exceptionalism, internationally acclaimed economists Steven Hamilton and Richard Holden explore the public health and economic responses to the pandemic. By analysing the many successes – and startling failures – of Australia’ s pandemic response Australia’ s Pandemic Exceptionalism provides crucial lessons for future crises.

Richard Holden is Professor of Economics at UNSW Business School and President of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. He received a PhD from the department of economics at Harvard University. He is currently editor of the Journal of Law and Economics and has published opinion pieces in The Australian, The New York Times and the Australian Financial Review. He is the co-author of From Free to Fair Markets: Liberalism after COVID-19 and the author of Money in the Twenty-First Century. Steven Hamilton is Assistant Professor of Economics at the George Washington University in Washington, DC and Visiting Fellow at the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute at the Australian National University. He received a PhD in economics and public policy from the University of Michigan. Steven is former Chief Economist at the Blueprint Institute, a former Australian Treasury official and is a regular commentator in the Australian and foreign media.

Foreword 1 Foreword 2 Introduction Crushing the curve Putting the economy into the deep freeze Losing the race Failing the test A V-shaped recovery The road to COVID-normal Conclusion