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Raymond March reports that Bob Higgs’s theory of government growth in response to crises (real and imaginary) helps explain 2020-2021. A slice:

As economist and historian Robert Higgs explains in his influential and alarming book Crisis and Leviathan, government power often expands during times of crisis. Sacrificing freedom for (supposed) security, a fearful public allows the government to increase its size and scope over domains of public life in the hope that things will soon return to normal. Eventually, the crisis ends, but government rarely revokes the powers it gained during the crisis.

The CDC gained the authority to prevent landlords (người cho thuê nhà) from evicting tenants (đuổi người đi thuê) for non-payment of rent and extended its expiration date five times. And this is far from the only example.

Although mainly focused on his infrastructure bill, President Biden is still open to more stimulus payments. Many states continue to provide Covid-19 related unemployment benefits despite reopening and facing a shortage of labor. Travel bans from Europe and the UK continue despite medical research indicating there is a low risk of Covid-19 spread during a flight.

Creating the best post-covid world possible involves more than eradicating the virus. It also requires returning to pre-covid levels of government involvement in our lives. The ratchet effect stands in the way, and it lasts much longer than a pandemic.

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