The coronavirus was still a far-away problem in Wuhan when U.S. President Donald Trump announced a ban on travel from China in late January 2020. Six weeks later, as the coronavirus ravaged Italy, Trump closed travel from Europe.
These travel bans were highly controversial. Some people argued that they were unnecessary restrictions on travel. Others said they came too late. As New York’s COVID-19 case numbers shot upward, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the U.S. had “closed the front door with the China ban … but we left the back door wide open,” because the virus had already spread to other countries.
Jeff Prince is Professor and Chair of Business Economics and Public Policy at the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. He is also the Harold A. Poling Chair in Strategic Management and Co-Director of the Institute for Business Analytics at Kelley. He recently served as Chief Economist at the Federal Communications Commission. He is an accomplished empirical researcher in the broad categories of industrial organization and applied econometrics. His primary focus is on technology markets and telecommunications, having published works on dynamic demand for computers, Internet adoption and usage, the inception of online/offline product competition, and telecom bundling. His research also encompasses topics such as household-level risk aversion, airline quality competition, and regulation in healthcare and real estate markets. His works have appeared in top general interest journals in both economics and management, including the American Economic Review, the International Econo