Australia's Pandemic Exceptionalism

How we crushed the curve but lost the race

Steven Hamilton, Richard Holden

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Forthcoming
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English

New South Wales Univ Pres
01 October 2024

Social impact of disasters; Health economics; Infectious & contagious diseases; Australian Society

In many ways, Australia handled the COVID-19 pandemic as well as any country in the world

but what did we get wrong?

Australia's economic policy response to the pandemic was as effective as any other country's

and dramatically better than most. Was this inevitable? Was it luck? Was it the product of great institutions? Or a few talented individuals?

Conversely, Australia's public health response was far more mixed

and disastrous in parts. While we bounded out of the blocks at the start, grave failings on vaccines and testing meant we stumbled, escaping the pandemic many months later than other countries and plunging us into unnecessary lockdowns. Lives were lost and livelihoods were harmed as a result.

In Australia's Pandemic Exceptionalism, internationally acclaimed economists Steven Hamilton and Richard Holden assess Australia's public health and economic responses to the pandemic. By analysing Australia's many successes

and shocking failures

they offer crucial lessons for future crises.

'This book pulls no punches on the good, the bad and the baffling in Australia's response to the pandemic. Hamilton and Holden deliver a vital independent assessment of the hard decisions made and the powerful lessons that should be learnt from this extraordinary period.'

David Speers

'This is a book for our times, a compelling substantiation of the case for nurturing state capacity, and a powerful exposition of both the benefits and essential elements of timely, high-quality decision-making in periods of heightened uncertainty.'

Dr Ken Henry

'Holden and Hamilton deliver a sobering account of the duality in Australia's pandemic experience

near perfect crisis decision making in the heat of the moment, followed by a notable lack of forethought as the pandemic unfolded. In terms all Australians would understand, we played a blinder in the first half, had an awful third quarter, and limped over the line in front.'

Dr Nick Coatsworth

By: Steven Hamilton, Richard Holden
Imprint: New South Wales Univ Pres
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 153mm,
ISBN: 9781761170133
ISBN 10: 1761170139
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 01 October 2024
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

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. 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.