Social distancing saves people's lives and at the same time imposes large costs on society as a whole due to the decline in economic activities. When dealing with the new coronavirus, various things must be weighed and considered. The Copenhagen Consensus Center, a think tank that researches and publishes the smartest solutions to the world’s biggest problems, conducted a rapid cost-benefit analysis of moderate social distancing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana. The report assessed the opportunity costs of different strategies to lessen the impact of the pandemic.

References

[1] Copenhagen Consensus Center. A Rapid Cost-Benefit Analysis of Moderate Social Distancing in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ghana.
https://www.copenhagenconsensus.com/sites/default/files/covid_brief_for…
accessed on Jan 7, 2021.

[2] National Planning Commission. Medium and long-term impacts of a moderate lockdown (social restrictions) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Malawi: A rapid cost-benefit analysis.  https://npc.mw/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/NPC-COVID-cost-benefit-analys…
accessed on Jan 7, 2021.

[3] Copenhagen Consensus Center. A Rapid Cost-Benefit Analysis of Moderate Social Distancing in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Nigeria.
https://www.copenhagenconsensus.com/sites/default/files/covid_brief_for…
accessed on Jan 7, 2021.

[4] Thunström et al. The Benefits and Costs of Using Social Distancing to Flatten the Curve for COVID-19h. Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, 11(2), 179-195. doi:10.1017/bca.2020.12

[5] Bjorn Lomborg. Cost, Benefits of Fighting COVID-19
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cost-benefits-fighting-covid-19-bjorn-lo…
accessed on Jan 7, 2021.

Contributor: SHIRATORI Sakiko (Research Strategy Office)