We are entering our second calendar year of coronavirus lockdowns and panic. The economic damage resulting from arbitrary lockdowns has been so catastrophic, even New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is calling for the economy to reopen. “The cost is too high,” he tweeted. “We will have nothing left to open.”

At the state level, the pandemic has been a tale of two policies. While Democratic-led states such as California and New York keep people in their homes and wait for a federal bailout, Republican-led states such as South Dakota and Florida have opted to keep their economies open. The economic consequences of these two strategies and the impact they’ve had on the daily lives of families couldn’t be more different.