Opening Session Alex Epstein

Presented at 2020 Annual Meeting: Speaker: Colin Fenton - The global economy of the 2020s and beyond will need American oil and gas. But a return to healthy exploration and development of US resources depends upon economic recovery. Economic recovery cannot happen in force until COVID public health risks are sufficiently mitigated or eliminated. Therefore, specifying these risks quantitatively and managing them in a safe and effective manner is crucial for plotting a positive trajectory for energy markets. We have completed a careful study of COVID mortality data by age cohort, in every US state and in a dozen other countries. Our analysis reveals bad outcomes for COVID infection are far more sensitive to age and pre-existing medical conditions than either policymakers or the general public seem to fully understand. Proving and socializing this conclusion could mark the difference between roaring back in oil, gas, and other global markets or tipping unnecessarily into a new great depression.