The tetchy relationship between epidemiologists' and economists' over the course of the pandemic

The 2020 pandemic left epidemiologists in a difficult and heavily criticised position, which economists should be able to empathise with from their experience with the 2008 financial crisis. In early March a need for policies regarding Covid 19 was raised and therefore there was a need for models that predicted the course of Covid. As a result, researchers at Imperial College London used a model to calculate the potential death toll of the virus along with the assumption that people and the government would take no measures to stop the spread. Their conclusion of 500 000 British deaths, which in reality has been 5 million deaths, drew intense criticism from economists, due to the assumptions being unrealistic as they did not reflect the natural human behaviour of protecting yourself from harm. It was later stated that economists misunderstood the aim of the model, which was supposed to provide an estimate for the effects of potential policy intervention.

Economists saw epidemiologists’ efforts as subpar and therefore they dug into the data themselves, proven to be problematic as the potential of the uncertainty is unknown. When predicting a novel virus, and using data that economists are unaccustomed to, proved challenging, so economists took advantage of their forte and focused on answering questions that epidemiologists are less specialised to explore. Sticking to their speciality was been seen as being driven by their lack of incentive to collaborate with researchers in other fields.
In addition to epidemiologists influencing Covid policies, economists have also heavily impacted policy by analysing the economic cost associated with lock downs as well as assessing the overall impact the pandemic has had on the shape of the global economy.

The epidemiologists’ main source of frustration has been economists across the duration of the pandemic. This is due to the lack of empathy shown by economists, as epidemiologists’ have had to deal with complicated ideas on a mass scale. In addition to then facing large volumes of criticism for policies that at times the public had not understood and implemented effectively.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Shama Daula