Ongoing Blog Series: The Law, Economics, and Policy of the COVID-19 Pandemic

As the COVID-19 pandemic and society’s response to it unfold, we are confronted in real time with some of the limits — and some of the wonders — of modern society. The host of restrictions imposed by governments on movement and social gathering in order to contain the virus, for example, are having significant adverse economic effects, and revealing previously unknown (or under-appreciated) fault lines in societies and economies around the globe. But at the same time we are also witnessing a remarkable wave of innovative, compassionate, and energetic responses in both the public and private sectors, demonstrating the fundamental resilience and dynamism of society.

Perhaps most obviously, the health crisis presented by COVID-19, as well as the policies implemented to address it, have highlighted the already central role of information, digital, telecommunications, platform, network, Internet, and related technologies in modern life. But with that heightened role come new challenges in terms of the regulation of technology and the governance (both public and private) of the businesses, people, capital, and intangible assets dedicated to those technologies and their ongoing innovation.

As public and private decision-makers continue to address these challenges — and many others brought on by the pandemic — it is important to understand what can and should be done by both public and private entities, as well as to take stock of what innovative ideas have been implemented and their consequences.

Truth on the Market and the International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) are thus inaugurating an ongoing series — a scholarly symposium of indefinite duration and indeterminate scope — on the law, economics, and policy of the COVID-19 pandemic. The series will consider the opportunities for (and challenges to) technology and governance innovation in response to the pandemic, and the tradeoffs for each involved in the range of legal, economic, and policy responses that emerge.

We will continue to invite new participants and address new issues as the crisis unfolds. As we line up new participants and as their contributions are posted we will update this page.