Explanation.

How economics will explain why an equal outcome is not an achievable goal and why the Philippine lockdown is bound to fail.

An economics professor once said he had never failed a single student before but had, once, failed an entire class. The class had insisted that the best goal is the common good, that rich and poor should adhere to the same rules to achieve a common goal.

The professor then said ok, we will have an experiment in this class on the common goal. All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.

After the first test the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too; so they studied little …Unsurprisingly, the second Test average was a D! No one was happy.

Finally, when the 3rd test rolled around, no one bothered to study. There was no incentive to do so and therefore the average grade was an F. The scores never increased as bickering, blame, name calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for anyone else. All failed to their great surprise and the professor told them that common goal would ultimately fail because in life, different efforts bring different rewards. Those who try harder get more but when those who follow the rules still meet the same fate as those who don't follow, then why bother following the rules.

Unfortunately, the reality is the common outcome asks different people to pay different costs. In a total lockdown, not everyone can afford the price they are being asked to pay for the common goal to be achieved.