How Economics Can Inform Coronavirus Decision-Making
When considering travel and other choices, economic principles can provide guidance.
A family wearing masks and make-shift protection gear wait for their train at the Hongqiao Railway Station in Shanghai.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergEverything there’s to say about the new coronavirus has been said. I won’t add to that. I can’t. I have no real answers myself. But I—like you, I imagine—do have a lot of decisions to make.
I need help balancing long-term benefits with short-term costs. I need help weighing what’s dear to me with what I think would benefit others. I need help making educated guesses about low-probability, high-consequence events. I need help guessing how others will behave in the face of lots of unknowns and unknowables. I need help reasoning through how institutions will behave. I need help deciding how to react to the new coronavirus here at home and when I consider upcoming trips.