Homburg's Lockdown Analysis: Conclusions without Data and an Appropriate Estimation Model

Abstract

This is a critical response to Homburg (2020) who claimed that lockdowns were superfluous and ineffective. We demonstrate that Homburg's database is not sufficient to support his claim and that his econometric approach not suitable for an analysis of the lockdowns' additional effect. However, we corroborate Homburg's observation that the number of infections was already receding when the German lockdown came into force.