ABSTRACT
This chapter examines why people’s voluntary compliance during a pandemic is necessary for successful non-pharmaceutical public health interventions, and how it can be brought about. As enforcement by threat of punishment is bound to be incomplete and costly, nudging messages can encourage behavior conducive to the pandemic goal in a non-coercive manner, while financial incentives can provide a rational incentive to follow public health recommendations. Another method is creating a sense of team so that all members of society understand and collectively work together the collectively optimal outcome: this method explains the wrongness of demoralizing behavior by politicians, as it undermines team thinking. However, voluntary behavioral change during a pandemic may not be sustainable in the long term, due to people’s diminishing motivation. Moreover, the peer pressure, which plays a vital role in sustaining this change effectively and efficiently, gives rise to ethical concern.
