Page 4 - IDEA Vymahani koronavirovych omezeni COVID19 duben2020 12

IDEA anti COVID-19 # 12
Compliance with bans in the coronavirus period:
enforcement must be effectively targeted3 APRIL 2020
Libor Dušek4
Summary
 The fight against the spread of the coronavirus infection will only succeed if people comply with the measures taken to limit it. This overview study is based on the findings of previous empirical research and offers seven recommendations for how to achieve this effectively.
 The more people who comply voluntarily with the restrictive measures that have been adopted, the less need there will be to enforce those measures through repressive supervision and threats of punishment. To achieve this, it is crucial that the government and other institutions communicate those measures properly.
 Every newly adopted measure should be accompanied by a specific plan for how compliance with it will be monitored and enforced. Information about that monitoring and enforcement should be shared with the public throughout, to keep people more aware of it.
 The highest priority should be given to enforcing compliance with home quarantine orders, through random inspections, the involvement of local police forces, high fines, restrictive measures in response to repeated breaches of quarantine (e.g. house arrest bracelets) and the use of smart digital technology.
 It is worth considering a one-off “amnesty” for people in quarantine who voluntarily admit to having breached their isolation and who provide details of the people with whom they came into contact.
 Enforcing blanket restrictions in public areas involves monitoring by the police, but this should not be excessive. Research findings point out good reasons for preferring warnings and low, administratively uncomplicated on-the-spot fines, based on a simple, nationally established recommended “tariff”.
3 This study represents the author’s views and not the official position of the Czech Academy of Sciences’ Economics Institute nor of the Charles University Centre for Economic Research and Graduate Education (CERGE). Thanks are due to Josef Montag, Ole Jann, Michal Šoltés, Daniel Münich, Štěpán Jurajda and Luboš Cingl for their useful input and comments on the working version of the text. Any inaccuracies or errors are the author’s responsibility. The study was supported by the Czech Academy of Sciences AV21 Strategy programme and Experientia Foundation.
4 The author is an associate professor of economics and head of the department of economics at the Charles University Faculty of Law and collaborates with the IDEA think-tank at CERGE-EI.
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