Hayek on complexity, uncertainty and pandemic response

This paper draws on Hayek’s distinction between simple and complex phenomena to understand the nature of the challenge facing policymakers in responding to the new coronavirus pandemic. It shows that while government action is justifiable there may be few systemic mechanisms that enable policymakers...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	The Review of Austrian economics Vol. 34; no. 2; pp. 203 - 220
Main Author:	Pennington, Mark
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	New York Springer US 01-06-2021 Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:	Economics Economics and Finance History of Economic Thought/Methodology Pandemics Policy making Political economy Political Science Public Finance Public policy Uncertainty B31 B53 Hayek Uncertainty B00 Pandemics B13 B25 Public policy Complexity
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	This paper draws on Hayek’s distinction between simple and complex phenomena to understand the nature of the challenge facing policymakers in responding to the new coronavirus pandemic. It shows that while government action is justifiable there may be few systemic mechanisms that enable policymakers to distinguish better from worse policy responses, or to make such distinctions in sufficient time. It then argues that this may be a more general characteristic of large-scale public policy making procedures and illustrates the importance of returning to a market-based political economy at the earliest convenience.
ISSN:	0889-3047 1573-7128
DOI:	10.1007/s11138-020-00522-9