Political decision making in the covid-19 pandemic: The case of germany from the perspective of risk management

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is permanently changing modern social and economic coexist-ence. Most governments have declared infection control to be their top priority while citizens face great restrictions on their civil rights. A pandemic is an exemplary scenario in which political actors must decide about future, and thus uncertain, events. This paper tries to present a tool well estab-lished in the field of entrepreneurial and management decision making which could also be a first benchmark for political decisions. Our approach builds on the standard epidemiological SEIR model in combination with simulation techniques used in risk management. By our case study we want to demonstrate the opportunities that risk management techniques, especially risk analyses using Monte Carlo simulation, can provide to policy makers in general, and in a public health crisis in particular. Hence, our case study can be used as a framework for political decision making under incomplete information and uncertainty. Overall, we want to point out that a health policy that aims to provide comprehensive protection against infection should also be based on economic criteria. This is without prejudice to the integration of ethical considerations in the final political decision.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number397
JournalInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Volume19
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2022
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 35010656

Keywords

Sustainable Development Goals

Keywords

  • Applied economics, Business economics, COVID-19, Decision making, Health economics, Health policy, Public choice, Public health, Risk management, Simulation, Uncertainty