Includes bibliographical references (pages [273]-297) and index

What does it mean to be economically "worse off" during a pandemic? : an introduction to economic welfare -- Should I be free to risk infecting your grandma with a deadly virus? : an introduction to externalities -- Did we close down the economy? : an introduction to public and private action -- How much would you spend to save my life? : an introduction to the value of a statistical life -- When is a lockdown cure worse than the disease? : an introduction to cost-benefit analysis -- Why was I banned from going fishing? : an introduction to thinking on the margin -- What good is a pandemic plan with so many unknowns? : an introduction to uncertainty and the knowledge problem -- Why did protests and marches not lead to obvious spikes in COVID-19 cases? : an introduction to endogeneity -- Why couldn't I get a COVID-19 test back in February and March 2020? : an introduction to regulatory tradeoffs -- Why was there no hand sanitizer in my pharmacy for months? : an introduction to the price mechanism -- Does the pandemic show that we need more U.S.-Based manufacturing? : an introduction to trade and specialization -- Why is that guy in the mask getting so close? : an introduction to moral hazard -- Why did airlines get a special bailout, but not my industry? : an introduction to public choice economics -- Why didn't my workers want to be rehired? : an introduction to incentives -- Why weren't we well prepared for the pandemic? : an introduction to political incentives -- Can we really just turn an economy off and back on again? : an introduction to the nature of an economy -- Conclusion: What is economics good for?

"Have you ever stopped to wonder why hand sanitizer was missing from your pharmacy for months after the COVID-19 pandemic hit? Why some employers and employees were arguing over workers being re-hired during the first COVID-19 lockdown? Why passenger airlines were able to get their own ring-fenced bailout from Congress? Economics in One Virus answers all these pandemic-related questions and many more, drawing on the dramatic events of 2020 to bring to life some of the most important principles of economic thought. Packed with supporting data and the best new academic evidence, those uninitiated in economics will be given a crash-course in the subject through the applied case-study of the COVID-19 pandemic, to help explain everything from why the U.S. was underprepared for the pandemic to how economists go about valuing the lives saved from lockdowns. After digesting this highly readable, fast-paced, and provocative virus-themed economic tour, readers will be able to make much better sense of the events that they've lived through. Perhaps more importantly, the insights on everything from the role of the price mechanism to trade and specialization will grant even those wholly new to economics the skills to think like an economist in their own lives and when evaluating the choices of their political leaders"--