Pandemic-economics blog

Pandemic-economics blog A blog by Commission staff to generate ideas and promote debate about policy responses to COVID‑19. We welcome robust, respectful and insightful thoughts and ideas. Comments can be posted at the bottom of blog posts, but please note they are moderated and won't appear immediately.

The small numbers problem: distinguishing good luck from goo…

1 July 2020

Zero community transmission. Just a handful of active cases, all in quarantine. New Zealand is in an…

How will the pandemic end?

25 June 2020

Elimination. Border incursions. An outbreak. A lockdown, which takes us back to elimination.

QR code scanning

Preparing for further outbreaks – have we got the right app?

11 June 2020

Alert level 1! Like you no doubt, I am breathing a sigh of relief. But no one can guarantee that New…

COVID19 warning

What’s the risk?

19 May 2020

Eighty-four percent of New Zealanders were concerned about the chances that they or someone close to…

The future of work? Over-prepared for yesterday’s threat, an…

15 May 2020

Are humans destined to be over-prepared for yesterday’s existential threat, and under-prepared for t…

A mountaineer’s guide to policy headroom

23 April 2020

Over the last few weeks’, you might have felt like the country was making its way along a ridge betw…

How are we trackin’?

22 April 2020

Let me introduce you to RPE, a “quick & dirty” estimate of the effective reproduction number of COVI…

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