When data include extremes, finite expectations may not exist and rational policymaking fails. We apply methods from Extreme Value Theory to data on mortality rates from respiratory contagions for the US and the world over the 30 years immediately preceding COVID-19. This allows us to ask: Did...

We propose a regional inequality-based mechanism to explain the heterogeneity in the spread of Covid-19 and test it using data from India. We argue that a core-periphery economic structure is likely to increase the spread of infection because it involves movement of goods and people across the...