Government Policies on Covid19 Pandemic Discussion
In one of our readings this week (“Efficiency of government policy during the Covid-19 pandemic”), the authors ask whether democracies are more effective in protecting their citizens in a pandemic than an autocratic nation might be. While many might argue that countries like China are more effective in taking the necessary measures to contain the pandemic because they are readier to limit citizens’ freedom and human rights, they found no support for this hypothesis. In fact, they found that the most effective governments are on average those of democratic countries. Building on our discussion in class, do you agree or disagree with their conclusion?
