Rights redistribution and COVID-19 lockdown policy

Giampaolo Garzarelli, Lyndal Keeton () and Aldo A. Sitoe ()
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Lyndal Keeton: University of the Witwatersrand
Aldo A. Sitoe: University of the Witwatersrand

European Journal of Law and Economics, 2022, vol. 54, issue 1, No 2, 5-36

Abstract: Abstract What is the tenet upon which the public policy of lockdown by fiat experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic is based on? The work approaches this question about the rationale of the mandatory shelter-in-place policy as an interpersonal exchange of rights, but where the exchange occurs coercively instead of voluntarily. It compares, in positive political economy terms, the normative principles of utilitarianism and Rawlsianism, and shows that lockdown by fiat is a policy that is closer to a maximin equity criterion rather than to a utilitarian one. The work moreover shows, also with the aid of a thought experiment and with factual applications, that the fiat redistribution of rights to liberty in favor of rights to health—from those least affected to those most affected by COVID-19—is, in the main, a policy choice that is to be expected under certain constraints.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; Health rights; Liberty rights; Maximin equity criterion; Public and social institutions; Public policy; Rawls (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D04 D78 H11 H12 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Working Paper: RIGHTS REDISTRIBUTION AND COVID-19 LOCKDOWN POLICY (2022)
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DOI: 10.1007/s10657-022-09732-x

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