Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism
How we crushed the curve but lost the race
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
‘An important contribution to the literature of Covid-19 post-mortems.’ – Johanna Leggatt, Australian Book Review
Steven Hamilton is assistant professor of economics at The George Washington University in Washington DC, visiting fellow at the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute at the Australian National University, and faculty affiliate at the Institute for International Economic Policy at GWU. Steven is a former Australian Treasury official and was chief economist at the Blueprint Institute. He regularly publishes opinion pieces in the Australian Financial Review, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, and has written pieces and provided commentary to leading international outlets such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Time magazine, Newsweek, The Atlantic, Slate and The Hill, among others.
Richard Holden is professor of economics at UNSW Business School and president of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. His research has been published in top general-interest journals such as the Quarterly Journal of Economics, American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, Review of Economic Studies and Nature. He is a frequent media commentator, and his opinion writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, and other outlets. He is currently a regular columnist for the Australian Financial Review.
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