Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism: How We Crushed the Curve But Lost the Race.

In many ways, Australia handled the COVID-19 pandemic as well as any country in the world - but what did we get wrong?

Australia’s economic policy response to the pandemic was as effective as any other country’s - and dramatically better than most. Was this inevitable? Was it luck? Was it the product of great institutions? Or a few talented individuals?

Conversely, Australia’s public health response was far more mixed - and disastrous in parts. While we bounded out of the blocks at the start, grave failings on vaccines and testing meant we stumbled, escaping the pandemic many months later than other countries and plunging us into unnecessary lockdowns. Lives were lost and livelihoods were harmed as a result.

In Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism, internationally acclaimed economists Steven Hamilton and Richard Holden assess Australia’s public health and economic responses to the pandemic. By analysing Australia’s many successes - and shocking failures - they offer crucial lessons for future crises.

’This book pulls no punches on the good, the bad and the baffling in Australia’s response to the pandemic. Hamilton and Holden deliver a vital independent assessment of the hard decisions made and the powerful lessons that should be learnt from this extraordinary period.’ - David Speers

’This is a book for our times, a compelling substantiation of the case for nurturing state capacity, and a powerful exposition of both the benefits and essential elements of timely, high-quality decision-making in periods of heightened uncertainty.’ - Dr Ken Henry

’Holden and Hamilton deliver a sobering account of the duality in Australia’s pandemic experience - near perfect crisis decision making in the heat of the moment, followed by a notable lack of forethought as the pandemic unfolded. In terms all Australians would understand, we played a blinder in the first half, had an awful third quarter, and limped over the line in front.’ - Dr Nick Coatsworth.

Richard Holden is Professor of Economics at UNSW Business School and President of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. He received a PhD from the department of economics at Harvard University. He is currently editor of the Journal of Law and Economics and has published opinion pieces in The Australian, The New York Times and the Australian Financial Review. He is the co-author of From Free to Fair Markets: Liberalism after COVID-19 and the author of Money in the Twenty-First Century. Steven Hamilton is Assistant Professor of Economics at the George Washington University in Washington, DC and Visiting Fellow at the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute at the Australian National University. He received a PhD in economics and public policy from the University of Michigan. Steven is former Chief Economist at the Blueprint Institute, a former Australian Treasury official and is a regular commentator in the Australian and foreign media.