COVID-19
— Sep 29, 2023
Printer-friendly version
COVID-19, Hygiene Theatre, Masks, and Lockdowns: “Solid Science” or Science Veneer?

COVID-19, Hygiene Theatre, Masks, and Lockdowns: “Solid Science” or Science Veneer? is the latest installment in the Institute’s essay series on the COVID-19 pandemic. This essay examines whether government policy responses followed the science and evidence extant at the time of COVID’s emergence and progression through the population, or whether governments followed the science selectively to create more of a veneer of science than a solid policy foundation.

— Sep 7, 2023
Printer-friendly version

The Forgotten Demographic: Assessing the Possible Benefits and Serious Cost of COVID-19 School Closures on Canadian Children is a new study that finds prolonged COVID school closures imposed across Canada from 2020 to 2022 will impose life-long costs on affected children, despite evidence available to policymakers early on that closures wouldn’t slow the transmission of COVID-19, including learning loss, increased inequality, and a spike in mental health problems.

— Sep 1, 2023
Printer-friendly version

Public and Private Sector Job Growth in the Provinces during the COVID-19 Era finds that from February 2020 to June 2023, in all ten provinces, the rate of job growth was faster in the government sector (including federal, provincial and municipal) than in the private sector (including the self-employed). Nationally, the number of government-sector jobs increased 11.8 per cent over that time period, while the number of private sector jobs increased only 3.3 per cent.

— Jul 19, 2023
Printer-friendly version
On COVID, We Fought the Last War. And Lost

On COVID, We Fought the Last War. And Lost is the latest installment in the Institute’s series on the COVID-19 pandemic. This essay, by Jay Bhattacharya and Martin Kulldorff, documents how much of the government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic were inspired by practices used to combat the HIV pandemic decades earlier. But because the two viruses are so different, these HIV-inspired policies were entirely unsuited to manage the COVID-19 pandemic.

— Jun 27, 2023
Printer-friendly version
Fiscal Waste During the Pandemic in Canada and the United States

Fiscal Waste During the Pandemic in Canada and the United States is a new essay in the Fraser Institute’s series on the COVID-19 pandemic. It finds that the total cost of the Ottawa’s wasteful COVID spending—money that was poorly targeted or sent to ineligible recipients—will eclipse $110 billion by 2032/33, partly as a result of higher debt interest costs. In the United States, the total cost of wasted COVID spending will exceed $1.5 trillion over the next ten years.

— May 11, 2023
Printer-friendly version
Global Aftermath: The Economic and Fiscal Effects of COVID in Canada and the World

Global Aftermath: The Economic and Fiscal Effects of COVID in Canada and the World finds that during the pandemic, despite high levels of government spending and debt accumulation, Canada’s economy underperformed compared to most other advanced countries.

— Jan 19, 2023
Printer-friendly version
Lockdown: A Final Assessment

Lockdown: A Final Assessment spotlights how government lockdowns during the pandemic did little to reduce COVID deaths yet imposed widespread economic and social costs including an increase in deaths not directly linked to COVID.

Subscribe to the Fraser Institute

Get the latest news from the Fraser Institute on the latest research studies, news and events.