Prospects for the use of behavioral insights in the COVID-19 prevention legal regulation

Abstract

The pandemic of the new coronavirus infection COVID-19 has become a serious challenge not only for the healthcare system, but also for the authorities, who are forced to organize effective legal regulation in extreme conditions. One of these regulatory tasks has become the prevention of the spread of infection (social distancing and stay-at-home policy, repeated handwashing, use of personal protective equipment, vaccination, etc.). Many of these measures have faced rejection or disregard by the people, despite the large amount of information about the ways the virus spreads and sanctions imposed by many states for non-compliance with preventive measures. As one of the means to solve this problem, it is quite logical to use behavioral methods designed to organize the impact in such a way as to push a person to rational behavior without the use of sanctions and direct incentives. The article discusses some of the features of human psychology, allowing to build a regulatory policy most effectively.