Health vs. Economy: Politically Optimal Pandemic Policy

Desierto, Desiree; Koyama, Mark

doi:10.1561/113.00000026

Cited by 11 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…UK data comparison showed significantly higher death rates as compared to Sweden; however, beginning in June 2020, unlike most other European countries which began to ease measures, Sweden saw an increase in cases [66]. Policy divergence in terms of a "Stringency Index" is also presented by Koyama and Desierto (2020) [77] between Brazil and Argentina, Denmark and Sweden and the United Kingdom and the United States. Lastly, Nyarko et al (2020) [79] compare African containment policies to styles of containing COVID-19 in Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan.…”

Section: Cross-country Comparisonmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Naturally, the discourse surrounding social distancing policies and the impacts on the economy and health are considered in reference to various approaches undertaken by many countries. While cultural and additional differences such as socioeconomic status, political climate, etc., must be taken into consideration when doing cross-country comparison, approaches fall on a spectrum between limited containment measures, to drastic lockdowns, with most countries found somewhere in between these extremes [66,[75][76][77][78][79][80]. Ostling (2020) [78] discusses these two extremes as Sweden and New Zealand, with Sweden's model illustrating the former extreme and New Zealand the latter.…”

Section: Cross-country Comparisonmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Deciphering the COVID-19 Health Economic Dilemma (HED): A Scoping Review

Kaim

Gering

Moshaiov

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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Lessons learnt from the initial stages of the COVID-19 outbreak indicate the need for a more coordinated economic and public health response. While social distancing has been shown to be effective as a non-pharmaceutical intervention (NPI) measure to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, the economic costs have been substantial. Insights combining epidemiological and economic data provide new theoretical predictions that can be used to better understand the health economy tradeoffs. This literature review aims to elucidate perspectives to assist policy implementation related to the management of the ongoing and impending outbreaks regarding the Health Economic Dilemma (HED). This review unveiled the need for information-based decision-support systems which will combine pandemic spread modelling and control, with economic models. It is expected that the current review will not only support policy makers but will also provide researchers on the development of related decision-support-systems with comprehensive information on the various aspects of the HED.

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Section: Cross-country Comparisonmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Cross-country Comparisonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deciphering the COVID-19 Health Economic Dilemma (HED): A Scoping Review

Kaim

Gering

Moshaiov

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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“…For instance, policymakers often will place greatest weight on those policies that will help them gain or stay in power. Desierto and Koyama ( 2020 ) draw on selectorate theory to identify which pandemic policies are politically optimal. 9 Specifically, Desierto and Koyama ( 2020 ) predict that an incumbent leader chooses the combination of transfers and pandemic policies that will ensure remaining in power.…”

Section: The Political Economy Of Public Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Desierto and Koyama ( 2020 ) draw on selectorate theory to identify which pandemic policies are politically optimal. 9 Specifically, Desierto and Koyama ( 2020 ) predict that an incumbent leader chooses the combination of transfers and pandemic policies that will ensure remaining in power. The politically optimal pandemic policy in the model is the policy that would be chosen by the pivotal members of the ruling coalition.…”

Section: The Political Economy Of Public Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Epidemic disease and the state: Is there a tradeoff between public health and liberty?

Koyama¹

2021

Public Choice

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Pandemics, economic freedom, and institutional trade-offs

Geloso

2021

Eur J Law Econ

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We argue that institutions are bundles that involve trade-offs in the government's ability to provide public goods that affect public health. We hypothesize that the institutions underlying economic freedom affect the mix of diseases by reducing diseases of poverty relative to diseases of commerce (those associated with free movement of people, such as smallpox or COVID-19). We focus on smallpox and typhoid fever in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century in order to build on recent work that make arguments similar to ours, especially the framework Werner Troesken sets forth in The Pox of Liberty. Our evidence shows that economic freedom, in multiple periods of time and settings prior to the eradication of smallpox in the second half of the twentieth century, reduced typhoid mortality but had no effect on smallpox deaths. The implication for COVID-19 is that the trade-off between fighting the pandemic and preserving economic freedom may not be too severe in the short run. However, in the long run, the wealth benefits from economic freedom are likely to be crucial in reducing vulnerability to diseases of commerce primarily from their impact on comorbidities (such as diabetes and heart disease). Thus, economic freedom is on balance good for public health, which suggests that it, while requiring trade-offs, might be the best institutional bundle for dealing with pandemics.

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Health vs. Economy: Politically Optimal Pandemic Policy

Cited by 11 publications

References 0 publications

Deciphering the COVID-19 Health Economic Dilemma (HED): A Scoping Review

Deciphering the COVID-19 Health Economic Dilemma (HED): A Scoping Review

Epidemic disease and the state: Is there a tradeoff between public health and liberty?

Pandemics, economic freedom, and institutional trade-offs

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