The incidence and magnitude of the health costs of in-person schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic

Casey B. Mulligan ()
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Casey B. Mulligan: University of Chicago

Public Choice, 2021, vol. 188, issue 3, No 2, 303-332

Abstract: Abstract The health costs of in-person schooling during the pandemic, if any, fall primarily on the families of students, largely owing to the fact that students significantly outnumber teachers. Data from North Carolina, Wisconsin, Australia, England, and Israel covering almost 80 million person-days in school during 2020 help assess the magnitude of the fatality risks of in-person schooling, accounting for mitigation protocols as well as the age and living arrangements of students and teachers. The risks of in-person schooling to unvaccinated teachers are, for those not yet elderly, small enough to challenge comprehension. Valued at a VSL of $10 million, the average daily fatality cost ranges from $0.01 for a young teacher living alone to as much as $29 for an elderly teacher living with an elderly spouse. For each 22 million unvaccinated students and teachers schooling in-person for a 5-day week during the pandemic, the expected number of fatalities among teachers and their spouses is one or less.

Keywords: Pandemic; Occupational risk; Compensating differences; Incidence of regulation; Externalities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D62 I18 J45 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11127-021-00917-7

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