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On Coase and COVID-19

Author

Listed:
  • Darcy W. E. Allen

    (RMIT University)

  • Chris Berg

    (RMIT University)

  • Sinclair Davidson

    (RMIT University)

  • Jason Potts

    (RMIT University)

Abstract

From an epidemiological perspective, the COVID-19 pandemic is a public health crisis. From an economic perspective, it is an externality and a social cost. Strikingly, almost all economic policy to address the infection externality has been formulated within a Pigovian analysis of implicit taxes and subsidies directed by a social planner drawing on social cost-benefit analysis. In this paper we examine the alternative economic methodology of the externality. We seek to understand how an exchange-focused and institutional analysis provides a better understanding of how to minimise social cost. Our Coasean framework allows us to further develop a comparative institutional analysis of the pandemic response.

Suggested Citation

  • Darcy W. E. Allen & Chris Berg & Sinclair Davidson & Jason Potts, 2022. "On Coase and COVID-19," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 107-125, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:ejlwec:v:54:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1007_s10657-022-09741-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s10657-022-09741-w
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Vincent Miozzi & Benjamin Powell, 2023. "The pre-pandemic political economy determinants of lockdown severity," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 197(1), pages 167-183, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID-19; Coase theorem; Externality; Economics of pandemics; Comparative institutional economics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B52 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Modern Monetary Theory;
    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies

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