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

Mark Koyama

Public Choice, 2023, vol. 195, issue 1, No 8, 145-167

Abstract: Abstract This paper examines the political economy of epidemic disease. First, it outlines the incentive and information problems facing policymakers in responding to a new epidemic. Second, it considers the existence of a tradeoff between public health and freedom. Informed by a survey of the history of public health and an analysis of the response to Covid-19, it presents evidence that such a tradeoff can obtain in the short run but that, in the long run, the negative relationship is reversed and the trade-off disappears.

Keywords: COVID19; Pandemics economic history; Liberalism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E30 H40 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11127-021-00944-4

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