Book contents
- Behavioural Economics and Policy for Pandemics
- Behavioural Economics and Policy for Pandemics
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Behavioural Economics and Policy for Pandemics
- Part I Evidence from Experiments and Behavioural Insights
- 2 What Have We Learned from Behavioural Economics for the COVID-19 Response?
- 3 Adaptation, COVID-19, and Climate Change
- 4 Risk-Taking, Risk Perception, and Risk Compensation in Times of COVID-19
- 5 A False Sense of Security?
- 6 Preparing for the Next Pandemic
- 7 Human Challenge Trials for Research on COVID-19 and Beyond
- 8 Do the Public Support ‘Hard’ or ‘Soft’ Public Policies?
- 9 One Size Does Not Fit All
- 10 Psychological and Behavioural Aspects of the COVID-19 Pandemic
- 11 Behavioural Science and the Irish COVID-19 Response
- 12 On the Use of Behavioural Science in a Pandemic
- 13 Behavioural Public Health?
- Part II Health Behaviours and Policies during Covid-19
- Index
- References
13 - Behavioural Public Health?
Experts’ Biases and Responses to Pandemics
from Part I - Evidence from Experiments and Behavioural Insights
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 January 2025
Book contents
- Behavioural Economics and Policy for Pandemics
- Behavioural Economics and Policy for Pandemics
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Behavioural Economics and Policy for Pandemics
- Part I Evidence from Experiments and Behavioural Insights
- 2 What Have We Learned from Behavioural Economics for the COVID-19 Response?
- 3 Adaptation, COVID-19, and Climate Change
- 4 Risk-Taking, Risk Perception, and Risk Compensation in Times of COVID-19
- 5 A False Sense of Security?
- 6 Preparing for the Next Pandemic
- 7 Human Challenge Trials for Research on COVID-19 and Beyond
- 8 Do the Public Support ‘Hard’ or ‘Soft’ Public Policies?
- 9 One Size Does Not Fit All
- 10 Psychological and Behavioural Aspects of the COVID-19 Pandemic
- 11 Behavioural Science and the Irish COVID-19 Response
- 12 On the Use of Behavioural Science in a Pandemic
- 13 Behavioural Public Health?
- Part II Health Behaviours and Policies during Covid-19
- Index
- References
Summary
In this chapter we review some of the biases by health policymakers, public health decision-makers, and other experts that have emerged during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Alongside the formidable and tireless work on the ground of thousands of doctors, nurses, and healthcare professionals, the COVID-19 pandemic has documented an unprecedented series of distorted or sub-optimal decisions and behaviours by health policymakers and expert health decision-makers in countries considered to be at the forefront of public health, such as the United Kingdom and Italy, for example. Some of these biased decisions and behaviours have had dramatic effects and deserve a critical analysis under the lens of behavioural economics. In this chapter we list and describe some of the behavioural distortions that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these behavioural biases have not been previously documented, or categorised as such, or may have been discussed under different names.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Behavioural Economics and Policy for PandemicsInsights from Responses to COVID-19, pp. 242 - 268Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024
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