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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:  aN Invalid Date NaN

By
Matteo M. Galizzi
Edited by
Joan Costa-Font  and
Matteo M. Galizzi
Joan Costa-Font
Affiliation:
London School of Economics and Political Science
Matteo M. Galizzi
Affiliation:
London School of Economics and Political Science
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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.

Keywords

policy decision-makingbiases in decision-makingexperts
Type
Chapter
Information
Behavioural Economics and Policy for Pandemics
Insights from Responses to COVID-19
 , pp. 242 - 268
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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