The U.S. government’s policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic has had obvious effects on the economy and society. COVID-19 has already acted as a significant tax on everyday activity, raising questions about whether the costs of cures have caused greater harm than the disease itself. Tomas J. Philipson, president of TJP Economic Consulting and former Acting Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, joins Real Vision’s Maggie Lake to discuss lessons learned so far during the pandemic. Philipson talks about the impact on labor, health care, and supply-chain economics as well as the future of travel, telemedicine, and video conferencing in the aftermath of behavioral changes made to accommodate a public health crisis. “We needed a pandemic to realize efficiency gains,” he notes. According to Philipson, the economic outlook for 2022 depends on whether we’ve seen the last of the omicron wave. Recorded on February 3, 2022.