Cooperation on Protecting Public Health in the COVID-19 Pandemic based on Game Model

Yingxue Mi, Mengqi Sun, Zixuan Wang

2021

Abstract

This article discusses the application of the public goods game (PGG) under the ongoing crisis of public health. We applied the traditional PGG to a case study of individuals’ choice to contribute to the provision of public health because of COVID-19 and then introduced theory of three behavioral types. That is, a third type of behavior exists aside from cooperating and defecting – called ‘conforming’, which describes one’s imitation of the majority’s actions. In the empirical analysis, we chose to use the daily number of vaccinated people reported by national public health organizations in the UK as a valid and reliable indicator for differentiating individual behaviors. As illustrated by the data for British vaccination uptake between January and July 2021, conformists tended to observe what the whole population has chosen at early stages of the vaccinating process, before making their own decisions. The last portion provided possible explanations behind the behavior of conformists, thus demonstrating the inadequacy of the traditional PGG in this context, as the act of defecting does not always maximize individual utility in fact. Hence, we conclude that the mass’s behavior during the COVID-19 crisis is more complex than the case described in the PGG. For instance, cultural backgrounds and social infrastructures also play a critical role in the decision-making of individuals responding to the provision problem of public health in different societies.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Mi Y., Sun M. and Wang Z. (2021). Cooperation on Protecting Public Health in the COVID-19 Pandemic based on Game Model. In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Public Management and Big Data Analysis - Volume 1: PMBDA, ISBN 978-989-758-589-0, pages 146-151. DOI: 10.5220/0011344200003437

in Bibtex Style

@conference{pmbda21,
author={Yingxue Mi and Mengqi Sun and Zixuan Wang},
title={Cooperation on Protecting Public Health in the COVID-19 Pandemic based on Game Model},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Public Management and Big Data Analysis - Volume 1: PMBDA,},
year={2021},
pages={146-151},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0011344200003437},
isbn={978-989-758-589-0},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Public Management and Big Data Analysis - Volume 1: PMBDA,
TI - Cooperation on Protecting Public Health in the COVID-19 Pandemic based on Game Model
SN - 978-989-758-589-0
AU - Mi Y.
AU - Sun M.
AU - Wang Z.
PY - 2021
SP - 146
EP - 151
DO - 10.5220/0011344200003437