Using Insights from Behavioral Economics to Mitigate the Spread of COVID-19

The outbreak of 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has become a public health emergency of international concern. The number of COVID-infected individuals and related deaths continues to rise rapidly. Encouraging people to adopt and sustain preventive behaviors is a central focus of public health p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied health economics and health policy 2020-06, Vol.18 (3), p.345-350
Main Authors: Soofi, Moslem, Najafi, Farid, Karami-Matin, Behzad
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavioral economics
Betacoronavirus
Bias
Coronavirus Infections - prevention & control
Coronavirus Infections - psychology
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Decision Making
Economics
Economics, Behavioral - statistics & numerical data
Health Administration
Health care policy
Health Economics
Health policy
Herding
Humans
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Mental health
Optimism
Pandemics
Pandemics - economics
Pandemics - prevention & control
Pandemics - statistics & numerical data
Pharmacoeconomics and Health Outcomes
Pneumonia, Viral - prevention & control
Pneumonia, Viral - psychology
Practical Application
Public Health
Quality of Life Research
SARS-CoV-2
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Summary:The outbreak of 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has become a public health emergency of international concern. The number of COVID-infected individuals and related deaths continues to rise rapidly. Encouraging people to adopt and sustain preventive behaviors is a central focus of public health policies that seek to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Public health policy needs improved methods to encourage people to adhere to COVID-19-preventive behaviors. In this paper, we introduce a number of insights from behavioral economics that help explain why people may behave irrationally during the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, present bias, status quo bias, framing effect, optimism bias, affect heuristic, and herding behavior are discussed. We hope this paper will shed light on how insights from behavioral economics can enrich public health policies and interventions in the fight against COVID-19.
ISSN:1175-5652
1179-1896
DOI:10.1007/s40258-020-00595-4