Rational policymaking during a pandemic

Loïc Berger; Nicolas Berger; Valentina Bosetti; Itzhak Gilboa; Lars Peter Hansen; Christopher Jarvis; Massimo Marinacci; Richard D. Smith

doi:10.1073/pnas.2012704118

New Research In

Edited by Ariel S. Pakes, Economics Department, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, and approved December 6, 2020 (received for review July 6, 2020)

Abstract

Policymaking during a pandemic can be extremely challenging. As COVID-19 is a new disease and its global impacts are unprecedented, decisions are taken in a highly uncertain, complex, and rapidly changing environment. In such a context, in which human lives and the economy are at stake, we argue that using ideas and constructs from modern decision theory, even informally, will make policymaking a more responsible and transparent process.

Footnotes

↵¹L.B. and N.B. contributed equally to this work.
↵²To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: l.berger{at}ieseg.fr or lhansen{at}uchicago.edu.

Author contributions: L.B. and N.B. designed research; L.B., N.B., V.B., I.G., L.P.H., C.J., M.M., and R.D.S. performed research; L.B., N.B., V.B., I.G., L.P.H., C.J., M.M., and R.D.S. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; L.B., N.B., V.B., I.G., L.P.H., C.J., M.M., and R.D.S. analyzed data; and L.B., N.B., V.B., I.G., L.P.H., C.J., M.M., and R.D.S. wrote the paper.
The authors declare no competing interest.
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
This article contains supporting information online at https://www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.2012704118/-/DCSupplemental.