A Proactive COVID-19 Response Associated with Better Health and Economic Outcomes for OECD High-Income Island Countries

Jennifer Summers*, John Kerr, Leah Grout, Amanda Kvalsvig, Michael Baker, Nick Wilson

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Working paperPreprint

Abstract

We examined whether having a vigorous, proactive Covid-19 response was associated with better or worse health and macroeconomic outcomes among island nation. Countries were ranked according to key health and macroeconomic outcomes, and stringency of control measures compared with proactivity of pandemic response. The top ranked country for health outcomes was New Zealand (NZ) with the lowest cumulative excess mortality rate (10 per 100,000 population in mid-2023), followed by Iceland (90), Australia (118), Japan (172), Ireland (175) and the UK (345). For combined macroeconomic outcomes (2020-2022, changes in GDP and unemployment), the countries with the best rankings were Australia and NZ. Median stringency was lowest for NZ, but highest for Australia. NZ had the highest average rank for proactivity of key control measures. This study provides additional evidence, for island nations, that an elimination strategy with intensive border controls gave superior health/macroeconomic outcomes, compared with suppression/mitigation strategies.
Original languageEnglish
PublisherSSRN
Number of pages36
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Nov 2023
Externally publishedYes

Publication series

NameSSRN Electronic Journal

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