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The political economy of the COVID ‐19 pandemic
Author(s) -
Boettke Peter,
Powell Benjamin
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
southern economic journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.762
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 2325-8012
pISSN - 0038-4038
DOI - 10.1002/soej.12488
Subject(s) - pandemic , incentive , covid-19 , politics , government (linguistics) , welfare , economics , political science , ask price , public economics , political economy , economy , market economy , law , virology , medicine , linguistics , philosophy , disease , pathology , outbreak , infectious disease (medical specialty) , biology
Abstract We argue that the policy response to the COVID‐19 pandemic by all levels of government around the world is not consistent with recommendations from standard welfare economics. Thus, it is important to ask why such policies have been adopted. That opens the door to examining the political economy of the COVID‐19 pandemic. This requires examining the incentives and information that confront policymakers and voters and the institutional environments that shape their incentives and information. This lead article frames questions addressed in the remainder of the symposium.