Episode 1.18: Fifty-State Anarchy: The Failed Federal Response to Covid-19 - Eric Orts

<p><em>Interviewer: <strong>MATTHEW BERKMAN</strong>.</em> In the absence of a robust and coordinated response from the national government, U.S. states have shouldered the responsibility of confronting the coronavirus pandemic. As Wharton Legal Studies professor <strong>ERIC ORTS</strong> has observed, this has led not only to a hodge-podge of policies, but often active competition between states for scarce equipment, protective gear, and Covid-19 tests. In an op-ed in the Washington Post co-authored with Amy Sepinwall, Orts proposed one way to reduce this “50-state anarchy”: interstate compacts that allocate resources and coordinate plans. In his discussion with Oberlin Political Science professor Matthew Berkman, Orts justifies the need for this kind of federalism – which has since been implemented in a number of regions – as he describes the abandonment of national plans, formulated by the Bush and Obama administrations, for addressing pandemics. He likens the crisis to a war by the nation against an invisible foe, a metaphor that the White House has at times embraced without, however, a commensurate dedication to finding and eliminating the enemy.</p>