Koch network: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia
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Line 252: The Charles Koch Institute is a "major benefactor" of the [[Independent Women's Forum]], an American [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] non-profit organization focused on economic policy issues of concern to women, which opposed efforts to combat the coronavirus through [[mask mandate]]s in schools.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Stanley-Becker |first=Isaac |date=October 1, 2021 |title=Koch-backed group fuels opposition to school mask mandates, leaked letter shows |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/10/01/masks-schools-koch-money/ |access-date=July 4, 2022}}</ref> The group circulated a template letter to its members encouraging them to personalize and mail it to "your own school superintendents and administrators, principals, and teachers!" Among other things the proposed letter asserted that "young kids do not significantly spread COVID either" and claimed that "common sense" teaches that requiring masks in school may lead to anxiety, depression, decreases in socialization skills, and increases in tooth decay in children.<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 1, 2021 |title=Independent Women's Forum Template Letter Opposing School Mask Mandates |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/independent-women-s-forum-template-letter-opposing-school-mask-mandates/4a991d69-67f2-42b2-8fa7-f9abc0a2fb08/ |access-date=July 4, 2021}}</ref> During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Koch network funded several research projects that expressed support for lockdowns and similar [[Non-pharmaceutical intervention (epidemiology)]] policies. In March 2020 the Koch-funded [[Mercatus Center]] at [[George Mason University]] awarded an Emergent Ventures grant to [[Neil M. Ferguson]] of [[Imperial College London]] for "good policy thinking" in support of his COVID-19 epidemiological model.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mason's Tyler Cowen leads efforts to incentivize coronavirus response |url=https://www.gmu.edu/news/2020-03/masons-tyler-cowen-leads-efforts-incentivize-coronavirus-response |access-date=2022-03-30 |website=George Mason University |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Affairs |first1=Current |last2=Medicine |date=2020-03-21 |title=Emergent Ventures prize winners for coronavirus work |url=https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/03/emergent-ventures-prize-winners-for-coronavirus-work.html |access-date=2022-03-30 |website=Marginal REVOLUTION |language=en-US}}</ref> Ferguson's model proved highly influential in inducing public health officials to adopt lockdown policies worldwide.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Landler |first1=Mark |last2=Castle |first2=Stephen |date=2020-03-17 |title=Behind the Virus Report That Jarred the U.S. and the U.K. to Action |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/world/europe/coronavirus-imperial-college-johnson.html |access-date=2022-03-30 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> A grant from the Charles Koch Foundation funded a [[National Bureau of Economic Research]] study finding that [[California]]'s shelter-in-place style lockdown policy "led to as many as 1,661 fewer COVID-19 deaths" in the spring of 2020.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Friedson |first1=Andrew I. |last2=McNichols |first2=Drew |last3=Sabia |first3=Joseph J. |last4=Dave |first4=Dhaval |date=April 2020 |title=Did California's Shelter-in-Place Order Work? Early Coronavirus-Related Public Health Effects |series=Working Paper Series |doi=10.3386/w26992 |s2cid=216034142 |url=https://www.nber.org/papers/w26992}}</ref> A Koch Foundation grant supported a study by the IZA Institute of Labor Economics, attributing a [[Superspreader]] event to the lack of social distancing at the August 2020 [[Sturgis Motorcycle Rally]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Contagion Externality of a Superspreading Event: The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and COVID-19 |url=https://www.iza.org/publications/dp/13670/the-contagion-externality-of-a-superspreading-event-the-sturgis-motorcycle-rally-and-covid-19 |access-date=2022-03-30 |website=www.iza.org |language=en}}</ref> The Koch Foundation similarly funded a set of studies by faculty at [[Bowling Green State University]], arguing that political opposition to lockdowns and non-compliance with lockdown measures were explained by "libertarian and neoliberal elements within Christian nationalism" and "xenophobic" beliefs within these groups.<ref>{{Cite === Gay rights === | |||