Bp(V)= expected net personal benefit of getting vaccinated Bc(V)= expected net collective benefit of getting vaccinated.
It’s possible to imagine a scenario where the former is negative and the latter is positive. That would leave us with a genuine “free rider” problem, and a rather high-stakes one at that. The most prosaic solution to such problems is to pay people to do the thing that they wouldn’t otherwise do rationally.
I don’t think there’s anything terribly objectionable about the government incentivizing people to take on personal risks they wouldn’t otherwise take. After all, there are lots of government jobs which are inherently dangerous—and the government “incentivizes” them by paying people decent sums of money.
I’ve been thinking about this too. Say we let
Bp(V)= expected net personal benefit of getting vaccinated
Bc(V)= expected net collective benefit of getting vaccinated.
It’s possible to imagine a scenario where the former is negative and the latter is positive. That would leave us with a genuine “free rider” problem, and a rather high-stakes one at that. The most prosaic solution to such problems is to pay people to do the thing that they wouldn’t otherwise do rationally.
I don’t think there’s anything terribly objectionable about the government incentivizing people to take on personal risks they wouldn’t otherwise take. After all, there are lots of government jobs which are inherently dangerous—and the government “incentivizes” them by paying people decent sums of money.