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The pox of politics: Troesken’s tradeoff reexamined

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  • Glenn L. Furton

    (New York University
    Metropolitan State University of Denver)

Abstract

In The Pox of Liberty, Werner Troesken details the tradeoff between liberal institutions and communicable disease. According to Troesken, individual freedom presents a danger to the public health in the face of infectious disease, while constitutional constraints restrict the government’s ability to implement effective policy. Contra Troesken, I argue that decision-makers, amidst a crisis of contagion, neglect intertemporal tradeoffs, thereby discounting long run costs while favoring short run policies. These policies, once implemented, are difficult to reverse due to the path dependent nature of political institutions. Irreversible and self-reinforcing growth in political institutions established to enhance health can have an unintended negative impact on health during future crises, where political agents must operate in a more cumbersome and error-prone institutional environment. Using events from the history of public health in the U.S. as support for my theory, I conclude that Troesken’s alleged tradeoff ought to be met with greater skepticism.

Suggested Citation

  • Glenn L. Furton, 2023. "The pox of politics: Troesken’s tradeoff reexamined," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 195(1), pages 169-191, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:195:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s11127-022-01002-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s11127-022-01002-3
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    2. Lindskog, Annika & Olsson, Ola, 2023. "Conditional Persistence? Historical Disease Exposure and Government Response to COVID-19," Working Papers in Economics 835, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public health; COVID-19; Path dependence; Bureaucracy; Pandemics; Disease; Government growth; Crisis; Interest groups; Rent seeking; Government failure;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D73 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • H12 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Crisis Management
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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