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The behavioural economics of government responses to COVID-19

Author

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  • Gigi Foster

    (UNSW Business School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia)

Abstract

How have governments around the world responded to the novel coronavirus first discovered in China's Wuhan province in late 2019 (the cause of COVID-19 disease)? What has driven governments' responses, and to what extent can behavioural economics help us to understand the policies that have been enacted? In this short paper I examine the responses of four countries, mapped against media reporting, local context and viral spread, and discuss how core behavioural economics insights can illuminate the possible reasons for those responses. The paper concludes with observations about how these insights can be used for good by governments – in predicting public reactions, and in setting and selling government policy – the next time that the world faces a pandemic.

Suggested Citation

  • Gigi Foster, 2020. "The behavioural economics of government responses to COVID-19," Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE), vol. 4(S3), pages 11-43, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:beh:jbepv1:v:4:y:2020:i:s3:p:11-43
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Alessandro Cascavilla & Rocco Caferra & Andrea Morone, 2023. "The green and the dark side of distance learning: from environmental quality to socioeconomic inequality," Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE), vol. 7(2), pages 33-38, December.
    2. Michelle Baddeley, 2020. "COVID-19 2020: A year of living dangerously," Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE), vol. 4(S3), pages 5-9, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID-19; fear; media; salience; reference dependence;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H12 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Crisis Management
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • Z18 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Public Policy

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