I woke up to this in my inbox and all I can say is this is so fucked up

it's one thing to study this, but the entire framing of this is geared towards informing policy: and the baseline argument made is that we need to reopen schools regardless of the health consequences now because theoretically in the future wages will be down

not to mention that this kind of methodology is extremely callous in terms of how it reduces the value of human life to a financial cost. Especially so since it's geared towards policy! This market oriented nonsense is as dangerous as flat out covid-denialism

I'd like to know exactly how you calculate "expected cost for loss-of-life", "medical costs", etc. How are those distributed. Who bears those costs. What about psychological damage from family members dying, or being sick yourself. What is the "cost" of a child dying

the fact that this is all placed opposite the hypothetical wage earnings down the road is also deeply sinister. Again, you could make the case that "this is how it is" or whatever, but to so nakedly lay it out there that fundamentally your life's value is a financial data point

A doctor goes over to a grieving family "im sorry, your child is dead. But his classmates will be more productive earners for the bosses twenty to thirty years down the line. Assuming infrastructure remains stable. Oh and no you cant see the body, sorry, covid regulations"