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Crises such wars, depressions, natural disasters and pandemics can reveal differences in how effectively a society organises itself. In the 1600s and 1700s, for example, Britain’s more advanced tax system allowed it to outspend Spain and France, while Prussia’s efficient army let it overcome larger opponents such as Austria. In the Civil War, the Union’s industrial prowess allowed it to outlast and overwhelm the agrarian Confederacy.
Pandemics aren’t quite the same as wars, but they can also illustrate startling differences in the effectiveness of different countries. China, the place where coronavirus first appeared, initially tried to hush up evidence of the outbreak
before pivoting to a draconian crackdown that was crudely effective. South Korea and Taiwan, scarred by the Sars epidemic 17 years ago, were ready with effective response systems that tested large numbers of people and traced their contacts in order to isolate contagious individuals before they showed symptoms. European countries tended to respond less effectively, with Italy and Spain having two of the worst outbreaks and the UK dithering over its strategy while wasting crucial time.
But perhaps no advanced nation has responded as poorly as the US Perverse regulation, a bungled government test and fragmented supply chains held back testing for crucial weeks, allowing the epidemic to spread undetected. Abdication of leadership by the federal government left the job of shutdowns to state and local governments. Meanwhile, the president has issued highly unrealistic predictions that lockdowns could end in as little as two weeks. As a result, the US now leads the world in cases of the coronavirus.
It’s possible that the US’s scattershot, slow and ineffective response to this crisis is a result of leadership failures or the recent era of political division.
President Donald Trump eliminated a pandemic response team at the National Security Council, his appointments to the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration have been controversial, and his messaging has generally been unhelpful and conflicting.
But the widespread nature of the failures suggest that coronavirus has exposed a deeper decline in the US’s general effectiveness as a civilisation. How recent that decline is, what its causes are and whether it can be reversed are all
difficult but important questions.
—Bloomberg
Noah Smith is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He was an assistant professor of finance at Stony Brook University, and he blogs at Noahpinion