On 29/03/2020 10:02, James V Stone wrote:
> And ...
>
> Just as 9/11 yielded a 'natural experiment' for what happens if all planes are
> grounded, so this will provided many types of natural experiment. I can only
> think of a few, but there must be many more:
>
> effect of no traffic on roadkill of hares/badgers
> effect of no transport on air/water pollution
> global warming, obviously
> suicide rate (goes down in war time?)
> general health of population
> effect of home/no schooling on educational level of children
> are fishermen still working? If not, effect on fish populations
>
> I am sure there are many more, and more interesting effects, that I have not
> considered here.
>
> regards,
>
> Jim
>
Thanks, Jim. There have been many reports of measured improvements in air/water
pollution in locked down regions.
Now that everybody is using digital meetings (Skype, Teams, Zoom) it is
foreseeable that there will be a large reduction in business travel. Especially
air travel via "hub" airports which concentrate people (and viruses).
Many have likened this crisis to a world war, and indeed governments have
responded with emergency legislation and massive public spending, as they did
for WW1 and WW2.
In the UK, some consequences WW1 were :
1) for the first time, some women got the vote
2) the 1918 coalition government, and eventually the first Labour government
Post WW2, the European Coal and Steel Community (which lead to the EEC, which
lead to the EU) was proposed explicitly to prevent further war between France
and Germany.
In the UK the welfare state came into being, including the 1944 Education Act
and, of course, the NHS.
Already, as a consequence of Covid-19, in the UK some homeless/rough sleepers
are being housed in hotels and student accommodation. There will be huge
opposition to them being simply turfed back onto the streets after the crisis.
It has become more apparent to politicians and the public that hospitals should
not be run at near 95% bed occupancy. Indeed, all infrastructure should have
more resilience; e.g. flood protection, etc.
I've been attempting to think of +ve effects, instead of brooding about the
things I'm prevented from doing. If you think these thoughts may cheer
somebody up a little, please pass them on.
[Monty Python : "Always look on the bright side of life ..."]
Andrew J. Stalewski
******************************************************
Please note that if you press the 'Reply' button your
message will go only to the sender of this message.
If you want to reply to the whole list, use your mailer's
'Reply-to-All' button to send your message automatically
to [log in to unmask]
Disclaimer: The messages sent to this list are the views of the sender and cannot be assumed to be representative of the range of views held by subscribers to the Radical Statistics Group. To find out more about Radical Statistics and its aims and activities and read current and past issues of our newsletter you are invited to visit our web site www.radstats.org.uk.
*******************************************************
|