When to Release the Lockdown? A Wellbeing Framework for Analysing Costs and Benefits

Layard, Richard; Clark, Andrew; De Neve, Jan‐Emmanuel; Krekel, Christian; Fancourt, Daisy; Hey, Nancy; O'Donnell, Gus

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When to Release the Lockdown? A Wellbeing Framework for Analysing Costs and Benefits

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13186

21 Pages Posted: 4 May 2020 Last revised: 6 May 2025

See all articles by Richard Layard

Andrew Clark

Paris School of Economics (PSE); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Christian Krekel

London School of Economics; London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) - Centre for Economic Performance (CEP); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

It is politicians who have to decide when to release the lockdown, and in what way. In doing so, they have to balance many considerations (as with any decision). Often the different considerations appear incommensurable so that only the roughest of judgements can be made. For example, in the case of COVID-19, one has to compare the economic benefits of releasing the lockdown with the social and psychological benefits, and then compare the total of these with the increase in deaths that would result from an early exit. We here propose a way of doing this more systematically.

Keywords: well-being, COVID-19, lockdown

JEL Classification: H12, I18, I31

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Layard, Richard and Clark, Andrew Eric and De Neve, Jan-Emmanuel and Krekel, Christian and Fancourt, Daisy and Hey, Nancy and O'Donnell, Gus, When to Release the Lockdown? A Wellbeing Framework for Analysing Costs and Benefits. IZA Discussion Paper No. 13186, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3590884