Economic evidence for closing border in a severe pandemic: now we need the values discussion

From the University of Otago Press Release about our latest study:

Closing the border may make sense for New Zealand in some extreme pandemic situations, according to a newly published study of the costs and benefits of taking this step.

“In a severe pandemic, timely/effective border closure could save tens of thousands of New Zealand lives far outweighing the disruptions to the economy and the temporary end to tourism from international travellers,” says one of the authors Professor Nick Wilson from the University of Otago, Wellington.

“This finding is consistent with work that we published last year – except our new study used a more sophisticated model developed by the New Zealand Treasury for performing cost-benefit analyses,” says Professor Wilson.

The research has just been published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.

Another of the authors, Dr Matt Boyd comments that with increasing risks of new pandemics due to the growing density of human populations and various socio-economic, environmental and ecological factors, there is a need to look at different scenarios for better pandemic planning.

Read the full press release here

The study is published here

Author: Adapt Research

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