Behavioural Public Health?

Abstract

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.

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