Optimality Versus Politics: The Tragedy of the Commons and Mitigating Institutions in COVID-19 Policies.
This article examines the co-production of Non-Medical Interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic as the Tragedy of the Commons among political incumbents in multi-level governance systems. We argue that when policy leadership has political costs, a second-order prisoner's dilemma arises, leading in...
| Publicado en: | Publius: The Journal of Federalism Vol. 56; no. 2; pp. 475 - 504 |
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| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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Oxford University Press / USA
Spring2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=192964326&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 192964326 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00485950 UBL jtl: Publius: The Journal of Federalism issn: 00485950 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Spring2026 vid: 56 iid: 2 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 192964326 10.1093/publius/pjaf058 ppf: 475 ppct: 29 formats: tig: atl: Optimality Versus Politics: The Tragedy of the Commons and Mitigating Institutions in COVID-19 Policies. aug: au: Bayrali, Onsel Gurel Shvetsova, Olga affil: Binghamton University, Vestal, NY, USA su: Public health COVID-19 pandemic Prisoner's dilemma game Policy sciences Public goods Multi-level governance (Theory) Institutional environment sug: subj: Public health COVID-19 pandemic Prisoner's dilemma game Policy sciences Public goods Health and Welfare Funds Multi-level governance (Theory) Institutional environment keyword: copyrightHolder:CSF Associates Inc. copyrightYear:2026 crisis management federalism inLanguage:en party systems policy co-production publisher:Oxford University Press regional and central governments sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/publius/pjaf058 copyrightHolder:CSF Associates Inc. copyrightYear:2026 crisis management federalism inLanguage:en party systems policy co-production publisher:Oxford University Press regional and central governments sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/publius/pjaf058 ab: This article examines the co-production of Non-Medical Interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic as the Tragedy of the Commons among political incumbents in multi-level governance systems. We argue that when policy leadership has political costs, a second-order prisoner's dilemma arises, leading incumbents to strategically withdraw from their jurisdictional responsibilities and shift policy burdens to other levels of government, resulting in the underproduction of policy measures. Drawing on a global dataset, we assess how political institutions and incentives shaped these inefficiencies in different phases of the pandemic. Our findings contribute to the broader understanding of strategic interactions in multi-level governance by demonstrating how jurisdictional authority is not simply assigned but is actively claimed and ceded in response to institutional incentives and structural constraints. In doing so, this research highlights both the governance vulnerabilities of multi-level systems in crisis response and their structural advantages that can prevent extreme policy failures. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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