On freedom in Pandemic

Pandemic times define the value of freedom in society. Not only uncertainty and fear are faced by the people, but also the abusive control measures that governments, especially those with great concentration of power, impose to achieve some shadow targets in the name of saving lives. However, doing so entails costs that constrain unlimited control, such as the negative economic outcomes in the long run, the rising probabilities of protests, and the cost to prevent them. We develop a model to estimate an optimal control level that governments should set based on their beliefs of how much their society values freedom. We test the macro-efficiency of the model using data from the COVID-19 pandemic, and its micro-efficiency with the Chinese case, in particular, Xi Jinping’s “ZeroCovid” policy. We argue that the policy set abusive control measures since the restriction of freedom of speech and research of non-governmental scientists, that can offer more accurate information about the pandemic, disincentivized the civilian population, especially those that depend on micro and mid-size companies, to protest against the measures imposed. Our model suggests that governments with better economic outputs, given a pandemic, set medium control measures due to the recognition of a higher percentage of people subject to protest for their freedom, jointly with a reasonable cost for preventing damage caused