How much is a human life worth?

Private equity manager and former manager of Goldman Sachs' Germany operation, Alexander Dibelius, has publicly wondered whether it is right to protect the 10% of the population that is at particularly high risk from coronavirus while allowing the economy to be affected.

The financial daily Handelsblatt published an interviewwith investor Alexander Dibelius.

Dibelius opposes the measures designed to delay the spread of the virus. He justifies this by saying that “the acute collapse of the world economy with all of its consequences is the much larger and more dangerous stress test than Sars-CoV-2.” He is “more worried” about the “collective shutdown of the economy and social life, implemented with virtually no discussion and with a raised moral finger” than “this viral infection.”

“Is it right,” he asks, “that 10 percent of the population—the really high-risk group—is protected while 90 percent and the entire economy are massively crippled, with the potentially dramatic consequence that the basis for our general wellbeing will be massively and permanently eroded?”

“Better the flu than a broken economy,” is how he sums up his position.